


Tinfoil Moats

by wherenonagoes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-17 21:07:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1402492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wherenonagoes/pseuds/wherenonagoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mermaids are fucking real, at least that's what Hanji has convinced Levi he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is all thanks to the beautiful Zipra for inspiring and letting me write this fic for her meruri au she's been drawing for. She not only drew for this but beta'd for me. She is a beautiful beautiful person.

Rain fell outside, splattering against the thirsty concrete and dirt, and Levi hated it. He enjoyed playing outside. Climbing the trees and the small spider’s web that stood in the playground, trying his best to get across the monkey bars he swore were always loose and made him fall, even the swing set held a sweetness he couldn’t explain. The rain outside teased him, and so did a number of the other children within the orphanage; they were all running outside, ponchos and raincoats barely keeping them dry as they splashed through the puddles, screaming and squealing about the spring rain. Levi gripped the window sill, grinding his teeth as he looked through the dirty glass out at the world.

“Levi! Come on, let’s go outside! They’re playing freeze tag!” Hanji shouted, turning around the doorway, her brown hair up in a messy ponytail and her glasses almost falling off the tip of her nose.

“I can’t. You go on without me.” Levi didn’t turn from the window, instead he sat on his bed, his palms pressing into his knees. The room was humid, as though the dirt in the air stuck to him like dried sweat, and the longsleeve shirt he wore only made it worse. He felt like he was drowning in air and couldn’t lift a finger to help himself. Levi didn’t want to go outside, even if it meant relief.

“Why? You never go outside when it rains… Are you allergic to water or something?” Hanji walked closer, her tattered green and purple poncho covering the upper half of her body, and her blue mud caked galoshes covering her legs up until her knees, her old jeans stuffed into the top. She sat on the bed next to Levi, just looking at him, waiting for an answer. What was he supposed to say? Where was he even supposed to start? There were so many things he could tell her, that he wanted to tell someone. His hand began to hover over his left sleeve, over one of the holes he’d been meaning to stitch up, and he started scratching at his skin, thinking about what would happen if he told anybody. Hanji could be trusted, at least her more than anyone else he could think of. Levi sighed, digging his nails into his arm a bit more, the sharp pain of breaking skin almost nothing now, and he gave up, turning his head slightly towards her. Levi wanted to yell at her, to tell her that he wasn’t human, not in any sense, not with what he could do, not with what he was, just some piece of trash that could grow scales and a tail. He didn't say that though, and he let out a shaky breath before asking her anything.

“Can I show you something?” It was a weird question to ask of her, especially when he wasn’t explaining anything, but this would maybe help him come over this hatred of himself, or at least justify it. Even with how weird Hanji was, she couldn’t possibly accept him after he showed her. Levi wasn’t sure if he could trust her or not, but she was better than anyone else at this point.

“Show me what? Is it something cool? Did you catch another bug in the basement?!” Her eyes lit up, and she smiled brightly, waiting for whatever Levi was offering to show her. She had no clue what she was in for, that she was about to lay eyes on some freak of nature that no one could explain. Maybe she was smart enough to tell him something he didn’t already know. Hanji did have the highest grade in their science class, that meant something, right?

“I don’t think it’s very cool… it’s kind of disgusting, and you’ve got to promise that you won’t tell anyone. That means no other person alive or dead and you can’t even write it down anywhere.” He needed to know exactly how to express that Hanji wasn’t allowed to speak of anything he was to show her. Levi could feel himself trembling, his teeth chattering as he tried to calm down, to get himself to understand that this could help him. Telling someone else and not keeping himself confined within the walls of his mind was good. He could grow from this, he could get over this crippling wound in his gut that made him not want to eat and made him not want to wake up each morning.

“Cross my heart, hope to die. I won’t tell another soul.” Hanji smiled, crossing her heart with her left index finger before standing, waiting for Levi to show her whatever it was. Levi sighed, trembling even more before he stood up; he almost didn’t feel secure standing on his own two feet.

“We’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

“You aren’t going to show me your privates are you?”

“No! That’s… Well, you’ll see them but that’s not what I want to show you!” Levi’s cheeks turned bright as he quickly shook his head, rubbing his arm again before he took Hanji’s hand and began to lead her to the bathroom. They snuck around the others, and made it into the larger bathroom. There were two toilets, both a dull green and stained from the hundreds of children that had attended the orphanage through the years, and a off white bathtub between them, dark stains running from the faucet, a visible ring close to the rim of the tub. He locked the wooden door behind them, trying the handle to make sure that it wouldn’t unlock itself, as it often did with enough jiggling. Hanji closed the lid on one of the toilets and sat down, watching Levi’s every move, a smile on her face. Levi felt uncomfortable and turned from her gaze. How could she seem so interested in something he knew disgusting and horrifying? It made no sense. “Don’t stare so hard.”

“Sorry.” Hanji turned to look away from him while he got things ready. After turning the rusty dial on the bathtub, brown water pouring out at first, then clear streaming out of the spicket, he began to take off his clothes, folding them and placing them on the top of the other toilet. He didn’t care so much that Hanji could see his butt, he was showing her something much more important, and he only hoped she didn’t freak out or tell on him. He didn’t want stones thrown at him again.

The tub slowly filled with cold water, and he turned the dial off once it reached the right height. Levi then took a shaky breath before he placed one foot under the water, and then the other. He sat down in the cold liquid, which sloshed around the porcelain boat as he did. He could feel everything it did, and being in the water felt nice, it felt relieving. Hanji stood from the toilet and walked over, her hands behind her back as she watched what happened under the water. His face stayed bright red, he sat there fully exposed to her and she didn’t even bat an eye at him being naked. Levi bit his lip and closed his eyes, feeling the needle like pulls and pushes as the transformation started.

Levi’s legs were pulled together, and he felt the scales on his arms slowly begin to push through his skin, turning rough and hard, making his arms appear to turn gray and dark. It was hard not to try and itch them off like his scabs, but he resisted. His legs weren’t separate anymore, rather they were melded as they began to change as well. Hanji stood above the tub, her hands over her mouth as she kept in any noise she would make. He didn’t want to talk, he didn’t know if he could without screaming about the pain of bones disappearing, melding, or contorting into what he was. This was the first time that Levi had done this voluntarily in a while, and it was torturous.

Not much later, Levi was leaning further into the tub, the gills that had opened up on his sides breathing in the water and relishing the feel of it. In lieu of legs, Levi now had a tail, silver and glimmering in the light that rested above the mirror on the other side of the bathroom. There were flecks and streaks of light and dark blue through his scales, but he knew that they blended in so well that it all appeared the same color. The fins on his arms, back, and sides felt small, though only because they were folded down against his body. Levi almost smiled at the relief of changing back into himself. He took a large breath before opening his eyes to see Hanji’s reaction.

Levi was not expecting there to be a wide grin on her face, or for her to have any questions. He was so used to being afraid of others reactions that he’d created a false image of what everyone’s feeling towards him would be; he felt that everyone would view him like he saw himself, like a horrible creature not worthy of life.  He didn’t know how to react though, and so he just sat there, looking at her with eyes that didn’t know they were leaking.

“Levi! This is so awesome! You’re a mermaid!” Her voice stayed soft as she talked, she was being careful, not wanting others to hear her. “Your tail is so pretty, oh my God. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Is this why you don’t go outside during the rain? Or take frequent baths?”

“No! I just bathe at night when everyone’s asleep!” He felt his ears heat at the accusation. Of course he kept clean, he didn’t want dirt all over his skin! She had so many questions, Levi didn’t know where to start, and he just exhaled, bubbles rising from the water around him. To her, he wasn’t a monster, he was her friend, someone she chose to spend time with and chose to be his friend. Hanji stopped talking then, her smile growing wider. She pushed up her glasses and took a large breath.

“Could I feel your scales?” Levi started at her question, his tail splashing water out of the bathtub as he began to cough. Sure, he obviously knew now that Hanji was fascinated with what he was, that she didn’t hate him for being different, and she wanted to know more. But he wasn't sure he wanted her to touch him, he wasn’t even sure about wanting her to even look at him, especially when he hated looking at himself.

“No. No, don’t touch me.” It came out loud, almost a threat, and he didn’t mean it, he didn’t want to be mean to Hanji.

“Okay, sorry. I didn’t mean to push. I mean… how long will it take for you to change back?” Hanji looked around the bathroom, and after finding a towel, and walked back over, just keeping it folded over her arms. “I can wait with you here if you want.”

“Thank you.” Levi smiled now, too. Telling Hanji hadn’t been a mistake, and sure she was filled with more questions than answers, but he didn’t even know where to begin with answering them when he didn’t understand it himself. It was just good enough for him that she was okay, that she still accepted him. Levi didn’t feel ashamed of himself for something he couldn’t control. “Um, could you help me out of the tub?”

“Of course!” Hanji jumped, her face turning pink as she moved closer to the tub. She tried her best to help lift him out of the tub, and he tried not to move in her hands, his tail slippery. The chilly air in the bathroom made him still, and it felt wrong to be out of the water, but he kept with her. They could only get him to slip onto the ground so he was sitting against the side of the old tub.

A few hours later, Levi still sat against the side of the empty tub, and Hanji was asleep next to him, her head leaning down onto her chest, her glasses threatening to fall off. He poked her head, and she jumped up. He held his hand out for the towel and she gave it to him. A stern knocking came not even a minute after he was standing up on his newly formed legs.

“Levi! Hanji! If you don’t get out of there this instant, you won't eat tomorrow!” They stared at each other in horror and moved quickly. It didn’t take long for him to change and for them to leave the bathroom. They both got in huge trouble anyway, and went without dinner that night. Levi didn’t care, he had someone who knew, who accepted him, and who wasn’t scared. That was more important than food at that point.  

 

 


	2. Small World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some dumbass drives into a river.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Zipra has supplied her beautiful art and time for the chapter, editing it along with me and everything. She's truly amazing.

Sunlight beamed down through the clouds, blinding Levi as he tried to walk down the gravel pathway that ran parallel to the beaten up road. It made it hard to walk straight when he had to constantly keep his hand over his eyes in an attempt to see if there was a car coming or not, though more than likely there weren’t any around; the entire place stayed silent except for the rushing water of the nearby river.  He hefted his backpack off of his shoulders, unzipping it to take out the large water bottle that of course had moved itself to be under all the cans of spraypaint. After pulling the bottle out, he zipped it back up and returned it to his shoulders. He took a long gulp, making sure to not drop any, and then kept it in his hand as he finished his journey to the small near decrepit bridge.

As soon as Levi felt himself starting to sweat he dropped everything onto the ground, ripping his sweatshirt off and wiping at his arms, trying to keep himself as dry as possible. He tied the sleeves around his waist, then picked his backpack and water bottle back up. The sun began to dip down the rolling hills and trees, and Levi thanked the sky for giving him some comfort from the hellish day. Another drink of water, and another few minutes of walking, and he was at the bridge.

The bridge had only one set of support pillars in the middle of the water, which didn’t even span more than a hundred yards. The fence that borded the wide of the bridge had rusted and some of it had broken off from when he’d been trying to get some rock climbing equipment to tag the lower sides that no one would be able to clean. Overall, it was dull, brown, and dirty, like everything else in the immediate area. Including the river. The water, even though it ran a good ten to miles from any city, was filthy. It seemed to be the local trash dump with how much people littered and threw stuff into it. Levi tried his hardest not to care, but that was almost impossible, and so he ignored it, and began walking under the bridge to get to the underside.

Levi dropped his backpack onto the ground, taking another gulp of water before he threw that with them and looked at the space he had to do what art he deemed fit. Sure, he didn’t really consider himself the best artist, but what the hell was he supposed to do during the summer? He sure as hell wasn’t going to prepare himself for college to start the next semester; the thought of sweaty dorm rooms and drug addicted college kids wasn’t appealing, even if he was one of them.

There was a small granola bar he took from his backpack, opening the plastic wrapper and taking a bite before he really began his project. He didn’t have a plan with what he would do, probably just another stupid symbol that popped into his head, but it was better than being at home, if he could call it that. Levi took another bite of the bar and looked through the spraypaint cans, making sure he had all the colors he wanted. He picked one of them up and shook it violently before he placed a handkerchief over his nose and mouth, then he began.

Levi didn’t do this all the time, he usually stayed closer to home when he was feeling more than self-destructive, but he’d been out there by the bridge a few times to make his mark. It was better than scratching his arm off and making himself bleed to death, though he didn’t really see that as a bad thing. Behind him the river, though dirty and disgusting, did help him think and clear his mind. Water often did that, and he did his best to steer clear of any other contact with the substance, but in a world of over seventy percent water, that was hard to do. So practising his vandalism in close proximity to a river was better than anything else, and surely better than putting him within the water itself.

There seemed to be a constant theme with his art, though he wasn’t surprised that his common subject was the substance he couldn’t stand to use, yet depended upon. Time and time again he surprised himself with how he always drew back to it, but this time something stopped him from completing it, a very loud something.

Levi had heard a few cars passing over the road, though they were far apart. He felt it before he realized what was happening, the faint rumble of a car approaching over the bridge above him. The screech and grind of metal amplified under the bridge vibrating around the rusted metal beams holding up the structure. Levi jolted, dropping the blue can of paint he had been holding. Turning around so fast that he could hear the wind whip through his hair, watching in what he felt was slow motion as a car plummeted into the murky water of the river.

 

Levi stood stunned for a moment, trying to figure out if this was really happening, if some asshole really did drive his car into the river or if the fumes were finally getting to him. Maybe it was the sweltering heat of the summer,or maybe even he poisoned his drink by accident, he didn’t know. What he did know was,that he could see a blonde man who clearly wasn’t conscious. Squinting, he thought he could see blood too. He watched as the car started to fill with water and sink into the river, briefly wondering if by some small miracle the man would wake up. Taking a deep breath, he realized he was shaking.

Levi knew without a doubt, that he could help the man that had been stupid enough to drive while sleeping. He knew he would be able to save him if he got into the water; he was the man’s only chance at surviving this, and he didn’t quite know if he wanted to. He was still shaking, his breathing was coming in fast but he couldn’t tell, his mind was focused only on the roar of the river in front of him.

Water was acid, breaking his skin and his mind. Cleansing him of a normal life, of normal things. Removing any fairytail he could have cast upon himself. He was vaguely aware of his fist clenching, his nails digging into his palms. The hot air felt stagnant around him as he looked into the water. Ultimately it was what made him a monster, but in that moment he couldn’t find himself thinking of anything other than the man in the car.

All in all, it didn’t take long for Levi to make his decision, and soon enough he was tearing off his belt and pants, running towards the bank of the river.

Levi jumped into the water, glad that it was deep enough to where his feet didn’t touch, clenching his eyes shut as his legs fused together. It was an agonizing pain, one he welcomed and forced as he hurried his transformation, swimming to where the car began to fill with the cold muddy water. Levi swam, his tail propelling him through the water to get to the driver’s door. The man stayed where he was, unmoving except the slow rise of his chest, but even that seemed wrong. Levi gripped the door handle, and after trying a few times, knew it was a lost cause. Levi knew he only had a matter of seconds before they were both completely underwater, so he did what he had to, and balled his hand, punching it through the glass.

The glass shattered under his fist, and the water that could get in, did, washing over the man inside. The window wasn’t as wide as he needed, certainly not to get the giant of a man through it. He pushed himself through the opening to undo the man’s seatbelt. He didn’t mind the fact that he had accidentally ripped the man’s shirt as he reached his hand around his chest and pressed the button to release the seat belt. Then came the hard part, pulling the man out of the car and swimming him to shore.

Levi had not expected the man to be that much bigger than him. He was used to being small compared to almost everyone else, but not this small; this guy had to be almost a foot taller than him when he had legs. Pulling him out of the car was going to be hard, and mostly because now their chests were submerged in the water, making the man heavier due to his clothes, not to mention what looked to be fucking boots on his feet. He was a dead weight, and Levi hated himself for not actively preparing for the situation. Though how the fuck could he have known this was going to happen? He sort of wished he’d just left the guy to die, but he was in too far now.

The car started to sink faster, filling with water as it gushed inside, and Levi yelled out in frustration. This bastard was ruining his own damn life and he was going to feel guilty if he couldn’t save him. There was no way that he could get the man out of the window. The only chance he would have was if he broke the windshield. Levi pushed himself into the car so he was in the passenger seat, and that’s when he found the briefcase. He picked it up, and threw it towards the windshield, creating a web of cracks, yet not breaking it. Screaming he threw himself at the windshield, popping the entirety of the now cracked windshield off the car.

Levi caught his breath, watching what he’d done, and then he moved to pull the man out of the car. The water was well into the car by now, and when he looked back it was covering the man’s head. He hurriedly pulled him out watching to make sure he didnt catch on any of the glass left from the windshield. Once away from the car, the man slipped from his hands. Levi cursed and dove under, letting his gills finally breath the dirty water and immediately  regretting it, the dirty, contaminated water filling his lungs.

Levi swam below where the man was sinking, turning his body and pushing himself upwards, catching the man under his arms, dragging him to the shore. It was hard enough to swim to the end, the man heavier than what Levi had ever lifted.

Pushing the the man closer to the bank of the river, he forced himself to change back, his face contorting in pain as he did, his legs separating again under the water. He then took his stance and began to drag the man onto the rocky shoreline; the air felt cold on his wet skin. Levi hurried to grab his pants before he did anymore, grabbing his bag and belt too from where he’d left it, hastily making his way back to the unconscious man, his toe catching on a rock making him fall forward a bit in his rush.

He didn’t even know if the man was breathing, and he didn’t care until after he got his pants on, his wet skin sticking to the fabric of the pants, making things harder than they already were. He did leave the zipper open, because he actually somewhat did care if the man lived or not, and he had already gone to an extent to get him out of his fucking douchebag car.

Levi stopped a step short from him, he felt like his heart had stopped, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as he quickly looked around, hoping that no one had seen anything that had just happened. He hadn’t even thought to check if anyone was watching him, something he was all too familiar with while being in a foster home.

Deciding it was too late to worry, Levi shook his head, rolling his shoulders before he got to his knees and lowered his head to the man’s chest. A heartbeat sounded only a few inches below his ear though he swore he heard it slowing, and then Levi looked to the man’s face. It was pale, and his lips were turning a pale blue, and there seemed to be a cut on his forehead bleeding profusely. There wasn’t enough time to be looking for bandages, so he let that slip his mind. It wouldn’t matter if the guy bled to death if he suffocated first.

Levi muttered curses under his breath and in his head, his mind running in overdrive as he frantically tried to remember what kind of CPR they taught everyone in their sophomore health class in high school. He placed one hand over the other and placed them on his chest, and began to push down. The reaction was almost immediate, water coming from his mouth. Levi helped him onto his side, but after everything had been coughed up, he still couldn’t hear him breathing.

“Fuck!” Levi shouted. He ran his trembling fingers through his wet hair, looking at the man dying beneath him.

Mouth to mouth was the next option, and he really hated the fact that this man had to go and ruin his already shitty day. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, trying not to think about where this guy’s mouth could have been, he opened the man’s mouth. He pinched his nose shut, taking in a large breath before he pressed his open mouth onto the man’s, exhaling into his twice in quick succession. Levi moved his ear to be over his mouth, watching, waiting, praying that his chest would rise. It didn’t. He repeated the process again, and again, and a fourth time. By the sixth time, Levi was beginning to get a little light headed, but when he moved to check for breathing, the man was doing fine on his own.

Levi sat back on his heels the rocks digging into the bottom of his feet, watching as his chest rose and fell. He caught his own breath and looked around for his things. The next thing he needed to do was call… was to call Hanji. She would know what to do, and how the fuck was he going to explain that he’d saved this guy from a sinking car? Levi grabbed his phone from his bag and pressed the two key, Hanji’s speed dial.

“Hey Levi, what’s up?” She had no clue.

“I need you to come to uh, to the Niagara River. You know that one bridge no one crosses? A man- a man drove off the side and I turned to save him and he’s passed out on the shore right now. His head,” Levi swallowed, looking at the cut on the guy’s forehead, “He’s got some major gash on it.”

“Call the ambulance, not me!”

“Hanji! I can’t stay with him! I have to leave! He’ll ask questions and so will the paramedics! Just come here!” He was frantic, this was a terrible idea and he knew it. He needed Hanji’s help.

“Fine! Stay there!” Hanji groaned and hung up on him.

Levi closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his knees, trembling fiercely. Whatever had just happened hadn’t been thought out. Levi didn’t think about what would happen after he'd saved the man from his car, he’d only thought about saving him and not living with the guilt of watching someone die. He opened his eyes again to look at the man, and decided that maybe it was the right decision to save him, maybe he was important. But what the fuck did that matter? Levi just saved some man he didn’t know, and he was going to leave him there for someone else to pick up, and he wouldn’t care. He was going to look after himself and keep himself safe and protected. He didn’t need, no, he didn’t want anyone coming and asking him questions about how heroic he felt for saving some bystander. He had been there because he was tagging a fucking wall, not trying to save some rich bastard’s life.

Levi’s phone began to ring and he almost dropped it as he hurried to answer it.

“I’ll be there in two minutes. You’re on the bank, right?”

“Y-yeah, just on the bank.”

“Okay, when I get there, we’ll call the ambulance, and when they dispatch someone we’ll jet. Get ready to leave.” Hanji hung up again.

Levi stood up, finally zipping his pants and gathering his things into the pile. The man’s head was still bleeding, and he guessed he should do something about it. He still had his white handkerchief, and he guessed it could work well as a bandage. Digging through his backpack, Levi pulled it out and kneeled again by the man’s head. He lifted it slightly onto his lap and tied it around, making sure it was tight enough to cut off the blood flow. When he finished, Hanji was running down the hill, her phone in her hand and a towel in the other.

“Hanji!” Levi placed the man’s head back on the ground and stood, his body still shaking. She grabbed at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He clutched at her sides, out of instinct or just exhaustion he didn’t know.

“I’m glad you’re okay. Who’s the guy?” She peered over his shoulder to look at the man he had managed to save.

“Hell if I know.”

“Well, see if he has his wallet.” Hanji let go of Levi, and moved towards the man, kneeling by his side. “He’s not bad looking.”

Levi shrugged. He hadn’t been too worried about how hot the guy was, he’d been worried about getting him out of his car alive. Levi kneeled next to her and he picked out his phone from his pocket. His arms were still scaled, since his skin hadn’t dried yet. He frowned, turning his attention back to the phone in his hand.   

“I’ll call the ambulance,” Levi told her, dialling nine-one-one and pressing the send key.

"911. What's the address of the emergency?"

“Uh, we’re by the Niagara River, on the bank by a bridge.” What the hell was he supposed to give as an address? He didn’t even know the fucking name of the bridge. Just being on the phone for an emergency made Levi’s heart rate burst back through the roof, and he wanted to just scream at her that someone could be dying.

“What’s the phone number I can call you back on?”

“I don’t know. This isn’t my phone.”

“That’s okay, and what is your name?” A name? They were asking for his fucking name?

“Lance Stevens.” Like hell he would give them his real one.

“Okay, now tell me what the exact problem is.”

“A man drove off of a bridge, and I went and got him out, but he’s unconscious on the bank, and he’s got a gash on his forehead that’s bleeding a lot. He wasn’t breathing before, but I already performed CPR, and he is now.”

“Alright, thank you. We’ve sent a dispatch out to your location. Please wait there until they arrive.” The phone call ended, and Levi was pretty sure they’d given him a heart attack with how rapid their questions had been. He shook his head once and pocketed his phone, looking to Hanji. She was retying the handkerchief around the man’s head, and rose from the ground after that.

“They’re coming?” Hanji rubbed her hands on her jeans and pushed her glasses up, looking from the man on the ground to Levi.

“Yeah. Did you find out who this guy is?”

“His name is Erwin Smith. He had a couple of credit cards in his wallet, and a wad of cash. I only took fifty, but there’s at least ten times more than that in there.” Hanji smirked before she looked back to Erwin. “I think it’s about time we left. I parked just up on the side, so we can leave.”

Levi nodded, bending down to pick his things up. He left himself linger on Erwin, his eyes half lidded and blurry. Wait, he hadn’t noticed that before. Had Erwin seen everything? Was he conscious?

Levi jolted back to reality when Hanji clapped a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. She took his hand, and he let her lead him to the car, only glancing back once over his shoulder at the man he’d saved lying on the bank of the river.

 

* * *

 

The mirror never lied, which of course meant that Levi, looking at himself through the mirror in his bathroom, did look like a badass motherfucker. He finished tucking in his cravat, and smirked at how it fit the rest of his apparel; a nice black suit and a white silk shirt, something comfortable for his first day at his new job. This job would ultimately get him his own apartment out of the slums he lived in now, even if the place he shared with Hanji was in the nicer downtown district. He needed his own place, a place where he could walk around naked and not care, not that he would do that in the first place, but still; he wanted options.

Levi exited the bathroom and picked up his phone from the small table by the kitchen, unplugging the charger. Hanji was still asleep, though how she could sleep through any of the racket that went on outside he didn’t know, and she happened to be asleep at the table, her head resting on an open book, drool coating one of the pages. He grimaced at the sight, but quickly walked around her into the kitchen, picking up the cup that held his coffee. He took his keys off the ring by the door and picked up hisbriefcase, and opened the door, walking out into the harsh sunlight of the early morning.

The outskirts of New York city were colder than that of the inner, mostly because there weren’t manholes everywhere with steam shooting up the place. Levi shivered once before he walked down the stairs, holding the handrail so he didn’t slip and break his head; that would be a bad excuse to miss his first day. The roads already had tracks from other cars, and the sidewalks were clear from people already awake and starting their day. That made it easy for Levi to walk to the closest underground entrance. He walked in between other people and tourists who were trying to figure out their cards and whether or not they were still valid, and swiped his own across the scanner to be let into the station.

The air was muggy and sweltering, and he knew that it would be this way, but he also knew that once he was back above ground it would be cold again, so he kept his jacket on and made his way to where his train would stop. He got on as the doors opened, and sighed when there wasn’t a seat, because of course there wasn’t, he had to start off his day with a ten minute underground ride standing next to a pole and twenty other sweaty people.

When the train finally stopped at his station, he got off and was actually smiling at the fact that people no longer surrounded him. Levi walked above ground, and the cold felt wonderful. It chilled his face and made him shiver, but it sure did cool him down from being underground. Then he began to walk from the station to his new workplace. There were plenty of other people that were walking around him that were heading in the same direction, though he doubted for the same place. They had three floors in a larger building, and if he remembered correctly they were some of the lower floors.

Levi stopped in front of the building, looking at the address on the map on his phone. He pocketed the device and smiled. He had to be there in ten minutes, which should definitely be enough time to get more coffee, because his cup had magically emptied itself while he had been on the underground and been jostled around by so many people. Lucky for him, a Starbucks sat right next to his building, and there didn’t seem to be that long of a line. He walked inside, grabbing his wallet from his pocket and deciding what he could get. There were multiple things he liked on the menu, but he thought maybe just an iced mocha, or maybe some iced black tea. He didn’t know why he would get a cold drink, it was just what he felt that morning, and that was good.

Soon enough he was at the front of the line, handing the cashier his rewards card and ordering his drink. That was when some dipshit came in after him, and ordered ten different drinks and that they be made as soon as possible, and that he would pay extra to be put in front of others. The cashier being a greedy son of a bitch, agreed, and put Levi’s drink on hold while the two baristas went crazy trying to use the two blenders over and over. Levi ground his teeth as he watched them put his cup to the side, completely forgotten. The other drinks weren’t simple either, they had this many pumps of that espresso, but also syrup and had to have exactly that much milk. It was hell, and Levi was pretty sure the guy who had ordered them was Satan.

Fifteen minutes later, Levi finally walked back up to the counter. His cup was forgotten on the side, and he was growing more than angry.

“Could you please make my drink now? I’ve already paid for it, and now I’m late to work.”

“Of course! I’m so sorry we haven’t gotten to it yet, it’ll be done in a jiffy!” The cashier’s face was bright red, and Levi just nodded.

“Thank you.” He then walked over to where the rest of the people were waiting patiently for their drinks. Five minutes later, as one of the baristas had gone and dropped a gallon of milk, Levi was walking out of Starbucks and into his workplace, ten minutes late.

Levi took the elevator up to his floor, though there were multiple stops on the way to the twelfth floor, and sighed when he saw the logo for his new business by clear glass doors that led into the large open office. There was a desk in front of them, and one of the secretaries typed away on a computer before he saw Levi standing there.

“Do you have an appointment?” He only glanced at Levi, his eyes returning to his computer screen soon after.

“I’m Levi Balmont. Today’s actually my first day working here.”

“Oh yes! We were expecting you about ten minutes ago! You can go right in, and then walk towards the back. Wait outside the office doors until you’re called in.” He smiled and Levi nodded to him before entering through the glass doors.

There were hundreds of cubicles as long as Levi could see around him. He knew that he wouldn’t be working in one, he’d be in the office of some big wig, helping him with whatever shit they gave to him. And Levi guessed that the big wig he would be working under was the guy behind the big wooden doors at the end of the walkway. He kept walking towards the doors, letting his eyes wander over the cubicles and the other workers, typing their lives away, earning their pennies with each button.

The one thing he didn’t expect to happen there, was for the doors to open as he approached them. The wooden blocks happened to push open just as he reached for the handle, not only forcing his hand back, but forcing the cup in his hands to break open against his chest.

“I’m expecting my new assistant to be here any minute, I’ll get back to you when-” The man on the other side stopped talking on his phone as the door did, bumping his nose into the door as he continued but it didn’t. Levi looked up at him, his shirt and jacket soaked through with cold black tea. He looked up at the other man, his mouth straight as a line, his eyes holding the anger his face didn’t show.

“Oh, you must be him. Levi Balmont, right? I’m sorry I didn’t get to interview you myself or hire you, I was busy. I’m sorry about your drink too. There should be a towel or two in the bathroom that you can use to wash up. Come right back into my office when you’re finished.”

Levi didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know if he could even speak at the moment. A million things were running through his head as he stared at the tall man in front of him. The first thought that ran through his head was how entirely _wet_ his chest was. The second thought, which put a grinding halt on anything else he was thinking, came as his eyes looked up at his new _boss_.

Time stopped as he saw the same blonde hair and shitty eyebrows Hanji had complimented what felt like a lifetime ago. It made sense that all of it pulled together to be the face he’d seen before. A man he would never forget in his lifetime stood in front of him. The guy practically wore the same fucking thing as he had then, too.

He wasn’t sure if this was karma for all the bad things he did, or if it was something else. Either way he was left almost gawking. Levi had thought he’d left this man for the ambulance seven years ago. He never thought he would see the man he had saved from drowning so long ago, but he had no doubt about it.

“I’m Erwin Smith by the way, if you didn’t already know. I’ll get you on top of things as soon as I’m back.” The man turned his head only a fraction, flashing an award winning smile at Levi before he put his phone back to his ear and continued to walk down the walkway, turning around one of the pillars and out of Levi’s sight.

  


 


	3. Heart Earrings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Levi's first day on the job, and Erwin starts showing him the ropes.

Levi cursed under his breath as he pushed his way into the men’s bathroom, trying to ignore the fact that there were others in there using the urinals and the stalls. His shoes clicked on the black and white tile as he crossed the room to get to the porcelain sinks. The cabinets underneath, closed with plain white doors, held a number of towels, all white to match. Levi placed his briefcase along the side of the wall, taking his jacket off, untying his cravat and placing them both on the counter. He didn’t move as one of the other men came over to wash his hands, glancing at his wet shirt, which was almost transparent because of his black tea. The few other men who happened to also occupy the bathroom were out of it soon enough, and as the last one left, Levi followed right after him and closed the door, locking himself inside.

The phone in his pocket began to buzz as he approached the sink again. There was still only one other person who had his number, so he answered it, leaning against the wall as he did.

“Hanji, what is it?”

“I just wanted to wish you good luck! I didn’t wake up in time to catch you.”

“You were drooling on a book.”

“I know! I fell asleep again! Anyways, have you gotten there yet? Am I interrupting a big meeting?” She seemed entirely too enthusiastic on the last question, as though Levi would pick the phone up for her even if he was doing important work.

“No. I’m actually in the bathroom. I arrived late, and my new boss made me spill my tea all over myself.”

“You actually stopped for tea before work?”

“Yeah, I did, and you’ll never guess who my new boss is. Do you remember Erwin Smith?” The fact that everything had turned out this way seemed somewhat amusing, but most of Levi was worried about the taller man recognizing him, though he doubted that seeing that he’d been unconscious during their meeting. Hanji stayed silent on the other side of the line. Levi paused what he was doing, waiting for her reply. She did remember who he was, right? How could either of them forget?

“You mean… the guy you saved?”

“Yeah, him. He’s here, and he’s my new boss. My desk is in his office.” Levi took the phone from his ear, putting it onto speaker and placing it on the counter. He began to unbutton his shirt after that, placing it on top of his other things. “And the stupid tea’s made my stomach scale up.”

“Oh, really? I thought only water could do that! We could have known this if you’d let me run some tests.”

“You wanted to shove a needle up my ass, Hanji.” Levi rolled his eyes when she began to explain everything else that wouldn’t be nearly as painful as that. He began to soak his clothing in the sink with warm water to get the stain out, and then he looked through the bathroom to find a small closet that held some white plastic hangers.  

“I have to drive to the lab now, I expect a full report when you get home tonight!” Hanji seemed to be a lot more excited about the situation than Levi was, but he just agreed and said goodbye as he took one of the towels and began to dry his clothes and his body. He couldn’t quite feel it run over the gray scales that ran up his abdomen, and so he didn’t notice when they tore a hole inside the towel. Tearing it from his body only made it worse, and the towel tore apart in his hands.

“Shit.” Levi threw the towel over to the trashcan and continued to curse under his breath. There were paper towels as well, but he was sufficiently dried off now, and he would just need to wait for the scales to recede. The only thing he could really worry about were his other clothes now. His black tea hadn’t left that much of a stain, but now all of his clothes except for his pants were soaked through and drying off in the small closet that the bathroom supplied. He had nothing to wear out of the bathroom, unless he wanted to put wet clothes back on and threaten to have all his skin grow their scales. Levi cursed again and kicked the trashcan, running his hand through his hair as he tried to figure out what to do. That was when there was a knock on the door.

“Levi? Are you in there? Well, I figured since your clothes were ruined that I could lend you a shirt until they dry. I’ll just leave it on the handle for you to get.” It was Erwin, and though Levi had only heard his voice once, he knew it to be him. He ground his teeth and stomped over to the door. He put his ear to the surface, making sure no one was walking by, then hurriedly unlocked it and quickly grabbed the shirt from the handle before closing the door again and refastening the lock. He looked at the piece of clothing in his hands and wanted to scream, and even looking through the mirror, Levi could see how ridiculous it would be for him to wear it in public. There was no choice though, so he unbuttoned it and pulled it on over his shoulders. When it was all buttoned up and tucked in, and the tails of it went to at least his mid thigh, the neck still hung low enough to show his collarbones, and he hated it that much more. Levi grabbed his cravat and quickly tied it around his neck to hide whatever else he could, hoping that his scales hadn’t appeared that far up his chest,  then he grabbed his clothes from the closet and headed outside of the bathroom, trying to keep his trembling to a minimum.

The first thing Levi saw opening exiting the bathroom, was a line of men, waiting for him presumably. He blinked once, not really prepared to see that many people waiting on him, and then he moved out of the way, many of them shooting dark looks his way. Levi kept himself from looking back towards the bathroom, and hurried around the cubicles and down the large walkway to Erwin’s office.

One of the wooden doors stood opened, and he walked in to see Erwin sitting on his desk with a tablet in his hands. The sleeves of his shirt were folded to his elbows; they had been down when Levi saw him before. Erwin also seemed to keep pushing the same lock of blond hair back, but it kept falling into his face. He looked up when Levi entered and a smile spread across his face, it was almost enough to get Levi to take a step back.

“That shirt fits you perfectly! Though I’m sure my plaid one would have fit you better.” Erwin stood from his desk, placing the tablet behind him as he took a step forward, holding his hand out. Levi tried his hardest to not show how nervous he was about this, though he despised his entire situation at the moment and what it could possibly mean. Erwin then took a step back to his desk, rolling down his sleeves before picking up the tablet once more. Levi instantly spotted a small brightly colored watch around his wrist, he didn’t have time to identify it before Erwin began speaking again. “Do you have any questions for me?”

Yes, Levi had multiple questions for him. He wanted to know if Erwin remembered him, if he knew that Levi had saved his life seven years ago. Maybe Erwin did remember him and was just waiting until now to tell him? What if Erwin had already told someone about him? Those questions and more sped through Levi’s head, causing his teeth to chatter and he realized the scales on his arms and stomach were not going away, they might as well have been goosebumps. He finally came up with a question that wouldn’t seem too deeply urgent or insane.

“Why do you have extra shirts at work?”

“For the very thing that took place ten minutes ago. It’s happened more often than you would think, especially when I was juicing everything. I think I have some carrot apple juice left in the fridge if you want to try any.” Erwin just would not stop talking, it was as though he was nervous, but Levi could tell from his posture that he wasn’t, he was just genuinely talkative about things that didn’t matter. Either that, or any length of talking longer than a few words seemed immense to Levi right now. His senses were already overwhelmed and here Erwin was just adding to it.

“I’m fine. I’d like to know what I’m doing as your new assistant.” Levi looked around the office as he replied, taking in his new environment, but mostly trying to distract himself. There was a large window looking out into the city, or rather the building that was across the street. Another desk sat in the corner near the door to the office, and he guessed that was to be his new workspace. There were also bookcases lining the walls, though only about half of them were filled with books, the others with binders and white boxes probably filled with files. In the other corner of the office was a small kitchenette, which he guessed was special since the guy managed the projects and facilities for the entire company.

“You’ll be booking my flights and taking down notes during meetings and conference calls, and every so often I might have you just slip through my email to get rid of things or push them off to others. You’ll learn the process soon enough.” Erwin moved as he talked, pushing his hair back while he reached towards one of the binders in the bookcase closest to him. He skimmed through it before placing it on his desk, reaching for another one right after, placing that one down as well. He handed them to Levi and continued to talk. “Also, I’m not above assigning small tasks, so if you find yourself running next door to get coffee in the morning or a nearby restaurant to get food, don’t be surprised. Also, I require you to stay here when I need you, so there might be some long nights, and there might be some days when you come in and I send you back home. It’s a very flexible job, but I heard you’re good at what you do, and you listen to your superiors, which is what I need. Now, anymore questions? No? Then you can drop your clothes off at the desk before the elevator and they’ll take them to dry cleaning,” Erwin finished talking as he wrote on a small note, placing it with his wet clothes. He smiled down at Levi, and that’s when he noticed the small pink studs in Erwin’s ears. Erwin went to sit behind his desk, his eyes and hands immediately working on the computer in front of him, as though he had no idea that he was wearing a third grader’s wardrobe.

Levi could not believe this; he was a secretary. That had not been the official job description at all, but here he was, a personal assistant for someone who obviously didn’t know boundaries and what he should and should not control. He just shook his head and turned on his heels to leave the office, closing the other door behind him. The cubicles were stilled filled with the other employees, all working away at whatever it was they did, probably something that Levi would be doing but on a larger scale. He bypassed their glances and their stares, knowing full well he was now wearing the shirt of their boss, and how ridiculous he must seem. His only job was to drop off his soaking clothes, and then he was to return to the office, and to man he’d breathed life into.

The secretary beyond the glass door was surprised to see him again, and Levi could tell he was about to comment on his change of clothing, but he held his tongue.

“I was told to give these to you.” Levi placed the clothes on the desk, and the man behind it sighed.

“Thank you. Please tell Mister Smith that they’ll be done before the day is over.” He stood from his desk and took the clothes, hanging it on a small hook Levi hadn’t noticed behind him. The secretary sat back down and smiled tiredly up at Levi. “I guess today’s been eventful?”

“You could say that,” Levi replied, and then he left back through the glass doors, leaving the man by himself as he returned to the office. The first thing he noticed was that Erwin wasn’t in the room, and Levi had been left without instructions. At least he’d thought that before he walked over to his desk to find a small pink post-it note sticking to the calendar mat that lay there. The first thing he noticed about the note weren’t the instructions, but the small drawing next to them. It seemed to be a drawn version of Erwin’s head, and Levi wanted to know right then what he had gotten himself into. The rest of the note gave directions for what he was to do. There were stairs that linked the three floors the company owned, and he was to climb to the next one and go to the conference room directly left of the stairwell. This man was going to have him running all over the place, Levi could feel it.

The stairwell wasn’t very large, and so Levi found himself pushing towards the wall to let the other people climbing them pass him, or continue downwards without awkwardly bumping elbows. It opened up into a larger hallway and a hardwood floor. There were benches along the walls, and several paintings in between them, all covered with glass cases. The room Levi needed to go to was right in front of him, the number engraved onto a golden plate that rested on the door.

As soon as Levi entered the conference room he stopped short. There were several others around the large wooden table, all dressed in suits and expensive ties that probably cost the balance of his previous income. They also all had at least two electronic devices in front of them, a laptop or a phone, so either way they weren't really there. Levi looked to the head of the table where Erwin sat, only to see he had two tablets in front of him as well. He smiled and waved for Levi to come forward and to take the seat next to him. Erwin seemed to be the only one smiling; the others just watched him as he sat down, and he couldn’t help but feel more embarrassed by Erwin just beaming at him before returning to the meeting. After Levi sat down, it was like he wasn’t even there.

“This is Levi Balmont. He’s the one keeping my schedule intact from now on. If you have plans for a conference call in the future, or plans for me to travel, just send him an email or a phone call, and he’ll schedule it. Also, if you would like a meeting with me, please go through him to schedule it. Now, what was that about Arizona? Levi get this down,” and as Erwin finished speaking he took one of the tablets in front of him and handed it to Levi, as though he hadn’t just handed over a four hundred dollars worth of technology. There was a calendar opened up on the screen, and Levi quickly listened to what they talked about, taking down what he deemed important.

“There are a couple places in Arizona that need attention, though whether you need to go yet or not can’t be determined. Having plans for it might be good, but it wouldn’t have to happen for a few weeks or months even,” one of the women around the table was tapping away at her laptop as she spoke, and Levi could almost hear the collective ‘ding’ as everyone received the file she sent, including himself. All the eyes around the table didn’t raise to meet another person’s just the blaring white screens in front of them. A schedule appeared Levi’s screen and he looked it over, taking note of when everything had to be done by for the new building. There seemed to be a lot more renovations happening then she made clear, but he knew they would be able to handle them, and he would be able to plan for Erwin to get there. Everything seemed a lot simpler now that he was actually working and not focusing on if his skin was acting up. It was a serious environment, and he was completely serious about being able to keep and maintain his new position.

“I’ll plan for it now, and we can change dates and times later if the need arises. I would like to look over the few things happening though. There is a lot going on with what we’re doing with those properties. Levi, make sure to mark those down and have flights in mind for the times. Don’t book them yet, wait until everything is finalized.” Erwin tapped away on his own tablet, pushing at his hair again, not looking up from his piece of technology like the rest of the group around them. Levi almost felt like he was surrounded by people who didn’t know how to talk face to face. Erwin finished what he was doing, and after double checking everything, he looked at the people around them. “Is there anything else? If not, we can all leave.”

The rest of the group agreed that that was indeed it, and Erwin smiled before waving and walking out of the room. Levi was quick to follow him, having to take two steps to match Erwin’s long stride. They walked back down the stairs and into Erwin’s office, Erwin motioning for him to close the door as he entered. Levi did as such and turned back towards Erwin to find the man standing behind his desk, his hands in his pockets as he watched him.

“What?” Levi managed to finally ask, placing his new tablet on his desk and turning to face his boss. His skin began to feel dry, and the next thing he knew he was scratching his forearm and wrist through his shirt. Erwin just kept staring though, not saying anything until he shook his head and looked to the surface of his desk and at the papers cluttering every inch.

“Nothing, I just thought you looked familiar for a second. Anyway, I need you to know now, that no matter how I may appear, I am the pushing force behind this part of the company, and if you’re not serious about helping me organize all of this and keep me in place, then I can find a new assistant.” It was as though Erwin’s face turned from the bright sun it had been earlier, when Levi had first met him, to the deep black sea, dangerous and heavy on the body. Levi nodded his head slowly, then with more force,his fingers pressing into his arm and rubbing it violently.

“I’m here to stay.” Not only did Levi need to the job, but he was somewhat intrigued by the man he’d saved, and not to mention scared for his life that Erwin did know something, that he did remember. There were things he of course didn’t know from back then, as Erwin hadn’t been conscious, but he could learn them now, and Levi could tell that that would be an interesting experience. And just like that, Erwin’s face changed again, his mouth moving to a smile, and his blue eyes lighting up like the sky.

“Wonderful! Now, I do go around the building a lot, so I may not be here all the time. If you happen to not be in and I need something for you while I’m out, I’ll leave a sticky note like I did today. As of now though, just start going through my email and sorting it. There should be a file inside of one of those binders I gave you that can tell you how to do that. I should be back here within the next two hours or so… Why on earth do you keep scratching your arm? Is the cold weather irritating you that much? I have some lotion you could use, and I could get some for you that I particularly like during the winter months,” Erwin began walking over to a small cabinet Levi hadn’t noticed before while he finished talking. Levi had no clue how to react other than to stop itching his arm. Truth be told, he hadn’t realized he’d been messing with it, though that’d been happening too often anyways. Erwin glanced back at him before opening the cabinet door, only to frown and close it again. “I don’t seem to have any here at the moment.”

“That’s fine! I mean, I’ve got some of my own I can use. You don’t have to worry yourself about it,” Levi’s voice faltered and he swallowed before trying a weak smile. Erwin was offering him lotion for a problem that could not be solved with lotion, but he didn’t want to seem ungrateful, so what else was he supposed to do? Levi just nodded his head again before Erwin gave up looking for the lotion.

“Well, I guess I’ll try to find some, just so you know about it of course. Bye Levi, I’ll see you later,” Erwin smiled as he walked back around the desk. He held out his hand as he approached him, and Levi took it hesitantly, not expecting the other man’s grip to be so firm and strong. Then he was gone, out the door, leaving Levi in the huge office by himself.

The first thing Levi did was go through the binders Erwin had given him. they were both filled with things to be done upon hiring a new employee depending on the position they were hired for. Levi flipped through the pages until he found his title, only to find that all of his section had one corner of the paper folded down. He took a short amount of time to try and flatten them all down before he went to actually read the content and put it to use.

An hour or so of sorting through emails later, the phone on Levi’s desk began to ring. He looked around the office, though no one was there, and sighed. No one had told him if there was a proper protocol with these sorts of things, so he picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear.

“Levi Balmont, Erwin Smith’s office.” It seemed like the right thing to say; it was his name and where he was, and so people would assume he’s the secretary right? Assistant, he needed to remind himself that he was more than a secretary, he was an assistant.

“Hi Levi, it’s Mark, from the front desk. Your dry cleaning is here.”

“Really? Thank you, I’ll be right there to pick it up.” This not only meant that he could get out of the balloon of a shirt he was wearing, but that he could also feel more comfortable with his scales most likely not popping back up. After Mark hung up, he placed the phone back on the receiver and hurried out of the office and started walking down the walkway. He didn’t expect someone to stop him.

“Hey, buddy. Do you want another shirt to wear? That one doesn’t really fit you, and I have one you could use and just return tomorrow.” The man in question seemed to be in his late forties, and just a tad bigger than Levi himself. He didn’t know this man, he couldn’t be sure if he was trustworthy, though he was trusting someone who didn’t even know he’d saved their life, so he guessed he could try. Levi thought that until the guy brought out a short sleeved Hawaiian shirt, bright pink and covered in flowers.

“Fuck no,” Levi slipped. He hadn’t actually meant to curse, it’d just happened, and so now the guy was getting all red, but Levi didn’t stay to watch, he walked away, wanting his own clothes back. If the man said something or did something that could have set him off on a yelling spree, he didn’t know, and he didn’t care, he just wanted out of Erwin’s enormous shirt.

Mark was sitting at his desk, on the phone with someone, though Levi could tell it was a personal call, he still waited for him, awkwardly shuffling towards where his jacket and shirt laid under a plastic cover. The secretary finished his call and smiled towards Levi, handing him his clothes. Levi nodded in thanks, not wanting to say anything else, and walked briskly back into larger area, heading straight for the bathroom. This time around he didn’t need to lock the entire place off and keep others out, he just needed to get into a stall and hope that no one looked under or tried to get in. They wouldn’t in this environment, at least he hoped so. Levi quickly undid Erwin’s shirt, hanging it from the tag on the hook on the back of the stall door. His shirt felt nice against his skin, sitting perfectly like it was supposed to. With his jacket over that, he was in the right place, and everything was perfect again, except for the fact that he could still feel Erwin’s essence on him, he could still smell the lingering scent of a different soap and detergent used with his clothes, and even the faint hint of a cologne that he could have used before. That was what made it hell.

Levi took the shirt off the hook and folded it back up before returning to Erwin’s office, glad that the other man wasn’t there. If Levi could get by without another interaction for the whole day with the man, it would be heaven then. As it was though, there was another sticky note on his desk, another small picture of Erwin’s head, and another scribble of words that wanted him upstairs. There was no way that Levi would get away with what he wanted.

* * *

 

It was a good eight to five job, Levi wouldn’t deny that; it just happened to be a job where he was constantly in the same room with someone who couldn’t seem to figure themselves out. Throughout the whole of the day, Erwin had asked him several questions on what he should do for lunch and dinner, as there were several new diets he’d read about that seemed promising and told of wonderful results and excellent health and skin, and Levi had ignored him, feigned not paying attention, and doing work. It only worked until Levi had nothing else to do, all of Erwin’s emails were sorted into the proper files for him to check based on priority, and everything else was planned for the possible upcoming trips. Levi couldn’t avoid him, and that was how Levi found himself ordering the greasiest pizza from the best place within walking distance of the apartment.

Hanji was home when he walked in with the box, though she was doing what she regularly was, looking through her microscope and taking extensive notes on something probably long dead, or one of the scales she’d pulled while he was sleeping. She didn’t turn when he told her he brought dinner, and so he just pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge and opened it up, taking a long drink before grabbing a plate to take some pizza from the box. He sat down in front of the television and turned it on to some channel that happened to be showing something gory and disgusting; he nibble on his pizza until Hanji dropped herself on the couch next to him.

“So how was your first day at work with a guy you made out with seven years ago?” She wrapped her arm around Levi’s shoulder, taking one of the pieces of pizza from his plate and taking a large bite.

“Holy fuck, Hanji. It was not making out, it was CPR, and you’re the one that stole fifty bucks from him.” He pushed her away and continued to eat his pizza. He hadn’t made out with Erwin, he’d brought him back to life is what, and now he was working for him. “And it was fine. I got some fancy new tablet my first day, and I got to wear his shirt.”

 

Hanji spit out her bite of pizza onto the ground, staring at him. Levi glared back at her, mostly because the red sauce would stain the light colored carpet.

“You wore his shirt? Why?” A smile broke across her face, and Levi groaned before turning away from her.

“He offered it for me to wear while my clothes were cleaned and dried. I didn’t have another choice since my shirt was wet and I didn’t want my whole abdomen up in scales. I can still smell him on me, it’s disgusting.” Levi finished off his pizza, leaving the crust on the plate and standing up from the couch. “It was just work, nothing else. I have to go back in tomorrow, and it probably won’t end up like today.”

“You never know that.” Hanji smirked and jumped from the couch over to pick up the pizza she’d spit out. She threw it into the garbage and started to hum before sitting back down at her microscope. “This job could be the death of you. Anyways, you should see if he remembers anything from that day. That would be interesting. You could ask him how good of a kisser you are.” She began to laugh again and Levi threw his water bottle at her before returning to the kitchen.

“It wasn’t a fucking kiss,” he grumbled under his breath, just stacking more pizza onto his plate, wishing things could have turned out different for that day. He sat back down in the living room, watching the show idly, not really paying attention to anything.

“You know it’s supposed to get a bit warmer tomorrow; it might rain.” Hanji’s voice was somewhere in the background, not exactly registering as Levi feigned interest in the screen in front of him.

“Yeah, it does that a lot.”

 

 


	4. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi forgot that Hanji had told him about how it was supposed to rain, and he deals with the consequences.

The first thing that Levi noticed upon waking up, was that his alarm clock had yet to go off, which either meant that he’d forgotten to set it from the previous night, or Hanji had unplugged it again. He rolled out of bed and found it to be the latter, and quickly shuffled around his room until he spotted his phone on his old wooden dresser. The battery was almost dead, so apparently he’d forgotten to plug that in last night, and upon pressing the front button it read   half past seven. He had a half hour until he was supposed to be in for work. Cursing loudly, hoping he woke Hanji up, Levi began to scramble around his room, throwing his things aside until he got what he needed to wear. There wasn’t enough time for him to scrub his body down, so he combed his hair and hoped it didn’t look horrible, and then hurriedly pulled on his slacks and dress shirt, buttoning it up to the collar before tucking it into his pants.

“Hanji! Why the fuck did you unplug my clock again!”

“It was going off at random times, and I didn’t have time to find the button that turned it off!” Hanji was awake now, scrambling just like him for something she had been told to do that morning. He just moved around her, tucking in his cravat and buttoning his jacket before he looked around for his briefcase.

“Where’s my briefcase?” He turned to Hanji, who was brushing her teeth by the kitchen sink, her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth as she looked back at him. Her brown hair was more than a mess, and it was hard to look at her face and not the pigsty that she called a ponytail.

“It’s not by the door?”

“Obviously not. Did you move it?” Levi began looking through the living room, continuing to tell himself that he could clean this all up later, he just needed to be out of there ten minutes ago.

“No! I haven’t touched it. Did you check your closet? You’re always putting things in there,” Hanji said around her toothbrush, finally spitting out and running the tap to wash it away. Levi rolled his eyes, not believing he would do that, but when he walked back into his room, the open closet door had his black case sticking out of it. Levi groaned and picked it up, running back into the living room. He didn’t have time to grab breakfast or make coffee, he could do that after he was already there and finished whatever task Erwin had for him.

“Don’t let me do that again. I’ll see you later.” Levi grabbed his keys to the apartment and darted out of the door, not even checking to see if he’d closed it properly. He didn’t have time for that, and if he’d timed things right, the next train to get to work left in three minutes, so he’d have to run.

The streets were beginning to get crowded already, everybody rushing to work, trying to get things finished and trying not to look as rushed as they were. Levi was one of those, fast walking down the sidewalk and noticing that the small amount of snow was melting, and that it was actually a lot warmer outside than he had anticipated. That was what prompted him to look at the sky, and what he saw was not promising. Thick dark clouds covered everywhere, swirling and boiling like a living thing, and he knew at any moment they would break and release a violent storm, one he couldn’t avoid now. He could always go back home and skip work, he could call in sick, but on the second day? No, he couldn’t, and he was almost underground anyways, and the chances of the rain lasting until he got off of work were slim. It would be perfectly fine, and Levi began to calm down with those thoughts in mind, or at least not worry as much.

The train ride was horrible, again Levi was standing, holding on to one of the poles and hoping that whoever had clutched it where he did now had washed their hands, though the pole was slimy, so he doubted that very much. It moved to slow for his taste, but every stop more people got off, and he did when they finally got to his station. Levi wiped his hand on his jacket, wrinkling his nose in disgust at how dirty his hand felt now. He found his way up above ground and dove into the throng of people.

Again the sidewalks were full of people, so he clutched his briefcase hard as he walked down the street. Levi reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, only to find that it wasn’t there. Levi cursed again and then took a large breath. Today was just not his day, and he could deal with it. Not much could be worse right now, and so things could only get better. Thankfully it didn’t start raining before he got to his building and entered through the glass doors.

The one problem with waking up later was that Levi was working quickly, as though everything had to be done as soon as possible, but that was not the case for the rest of the world. It continued to spin at the same pace and things continued to go by in the same flow of time, he just happened to be running through it. So when Levi entered the building, he almost lost his breath because, well, they were all so calm. They weren’t rushing to get things done in just another second, they had time, and he had to think about it real hard before he let himself believe he had time too. Of course he didn’t though, because by the clock above the front desk he was five minutes late.

The elevator ride up angered him more, because he couldn’t control the speed with which is traveled up, and so he waited as more people climbed on at different floors until it finally stopped at his. Getting off, he saw that Mark was at his desk, and he smiled at Levi as he walked in through the double glass doors. Again the cubicles were filled with men and women dutifully doing their designated duties, and typing away on their keyboards. He ignored them and continued on down the walkway to enter into Erwin’s office, though it was technically his now as well.  What he found inside he did not expect.

Okay, Levi did expect Erwin to be sitting at his desk, it was his workplace after all, what he didn’t expect was what he was wearing. Erwin’s shirt happened to a salmon color, with dark navy blue stripes around the cuffs of his short sleeves. He still wore the pink watch, and Levi was sure he could spot the pink heart earrings attached to his earlobes as well. He almost said something, but then Erwin looked up from his computer and smiled towards him.

“Good morning, Levi! I’ve already got a list made up for you on your desk of what needs done this morning. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Also, there’s a conference call I’m to be on in about a half hour that you’ll need to listen in on with me. Then there’s one that starts about ten minutes after that one that you’ll need to be on as well. That one though is through the computer and not a phone. Any questions?” Erwin continue to smile, his eyes glancing down to what must have been his schedule on his desk. Levi shook his head and just sat at his own desk, lying his briefcase on top before he picked up the list Erwin had mentioned earlier.

Levi didn’t feel like one to talk right then, though that was completely different from his nature. The morning had started off all wrong for him, and so he did not want to bother himself with more talking than necessary. He wanted to just get out of there, go back home, and hoped that the rain didn’t last very long as it started to come down outside the office window. Levi sat down at his desk and blinked a few times before he began.

There weren't many things he was to do that day, but what there was seemed to be long. He was to finalize a number of dates for short two-day business trips around the state and other buildings in New England. He also had to see what a certain contracting company charged, as well as look for several blueprints within the boxes of files in the office to be referenced for future projects. There didn’t seem to be much more than that, but then he glanced at the top of the note, and by the small face Erwin seemed to keep drawing on every note he gave him, were the words ‘Morning List’. These were the things he was expected to finish that morning, which probably meant that there were more he would be doing after lunch. The thought of the midday meal made Levi groan, and his stomach grumble; he really had wanted to eat breakfast.

“Are you hungry? If you are I’ve got some juice I made this morning. I put beets, carrots, apples, oranges, and some spinach into it, so it’s a rather nice blend. There’s some in a small pitcher in there if you’d like some,” Erwin didn’t look away from his computer as he talked, just nodded his head over to the refrigerator. The fact that Erwin had even heard his stomach was odd, so Levi eyed him warily before he got up and walked over to it. Inside were a couple of pitchers, one holding water and one holding something that definitely did not look like a blend of fruits and vegetables. It looked to be a reddish brown mixture and was definitely thicker than water.

“Are you sure this is… edible?” Levi turned his head to ask. Erwin laughed and nodded his head, clearly amused with his reaction.

“Of course it is. I had the other half for my own breakfast. It’s extremely healthy. If you don’t want any though, I understand. There should be a bagel in one of those small cabinets, and there’s some margarine in the fridge you can use.” Levi closed the fridge and moved towards the cabinet above him, opening the door only to find that the handle from a plastic bag was hanging from the top shelf. Sighing, he moved closer to the counter and leaned over it as he reached up to grab it, the tips of his fingers brushing right by it but unable to grip it. Levi was not going to ask for help, that was just simply not what he did. He growled as he tried to get it down, then finally he gave up, only to be pushed to the side as an arm reached above him to bring it down. Levi turned his head to see Erwin above him, smiling down at him while he handed Levi the bagels. “You could have asked me to help you.”

“I almost had it.”

“Of course. There should be a knife or two in that drawer, and I’ll get the margarine out for you.” Erwin moved around Levi to the fridge and picked out the small tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and placed it on the counter. “We’ve got about twenty three minutes until the call, so get done what you need before then.” Erwin then walked back to his desk, and Levi watched after him, still amazed that he was wearing pink heart earrings. Levi shook his head and turned back around, minding to his breakfast as quickly as he could so he could get started on the list Erwin had given him.

 

* * *

 

Levi placed his fingers over the receiver before pressing down lightly and beginning to dial another number. There were still a few more dates he had to finalize, and Erwin had let him push that off until later, since most of the people he would need to call were behind them; time zones really did seem to screw things over. The clock on his computer read half past six, and the minutes just kept stacking up. Erwin still sat behind his desk, and Levi truly wondered how long he stayed at work and how early he came in, because it was both before and after Levi’s hours. The line began to ring, and Levi waited patiently before the person on the other end picked it up. He asked the same questions and said the same things, scribbling notes down onto the pad of paper in front of him before thanking them for their time and assuring them that Erwin would be there, that was what the call was for. Around a half hour later, he hung up the phone and crossed the last name off the list Erwin had given him, and then leaned back in his chair, the palms of his hands digging into his eyes.

Rain still poured down outside, the dark sky ominous enough that it felt as though it would never stop, and that they would force Levi to sleep there. His stomach began to grumble as he let his hands slide down his face to his stomach, and he groaned quietly before leaning back over his desk. Sure, this would mean overtime, a shitload of it, but he did not want to be there. Levi pressed a few keys on the keyboard and turned to look at the list of duties that sat next to his hand. Every little jumble of words had a line stricken through it, leaving him with nothing to do but sit there and wait for it to stop raining. Levi pushed himself away from his desk and rubbed his eyes again before rolling his head over to look behind Erwin at the city and up towards the sky. Rain pushed against the glass, and it still came down hard enough Levi could hear it from where he was sitting. He didn’t notice Erwin glance up to look at him.

“Levi, you’re still here?” Erwin had stopped what he was doing and now looked worryingly at his assistant.

“Yeah. I thought I’d finish everything today.” Okay, sure he hadn’t really thought he would finish everything, but he’d also thought that the rain wouldn’t last the whole fucking day, and he was wrong about that too. Levi stood from his chair and stretched his arms above his head, stifling a yawn soon after. Erwin stood from his chair as well, though he turned to look out the window.

“That’s quite a storm. I can see why you wouldn’t want to leave.”

“W-what? I’d be perfectly fine out there! I’m not scared of the rain.” His arms dropped to his sides defensively, but he noticed what he was doing and quickly stuffed them into his pockets.

“Then why are you still here?” Levi could tell Erwin was smirking. Levi just frowned and turned back to his desk to see what he could do about his workplace. “Anyways, I’m about to order something from a place just down the street. They’ll deliver to the building, so do you want anything?” Erwin opened a drawer to his desk and pulled out a small menu, scanning through it before raising an eyebrow in Levi’s direction.

“Sure, just pick something for me.” Yes, he was hungry, but he didn’t want to have to choose anything right now. If he had been at home, he would have taken some of the leftover pizza from Sunday and just heated it up, unless Hanji had already finished that off. Erwin was buying though, so it didn’t matter what he got, and Levi began to rethink if he should choose, but apparently he had thought too long because it was too late. He turned to see Erwin on the phone and talking to whoever was on the other side, probably someone from the restaurant, smiling like it was nothing and hanging up soon after. How long exactly had he zoned out?

“I got you some frozen yogurt, I wasn’t sure if you would like anything else on the menu since the place is mostly vegan. It’s just the closest place to get food from right now.” Erwin smiled again and walked over to the kitchenette, running his hand through his hair as he opened the refrigerator to look inside.

“What did you get?” Levi had never been one for vegan or even vegetarian food; he liked his meat, and Erwin didn’t look like the kinda guy to skip out on his either.

“A tofu salad, with some frozen yogurt too. They had a couple flavors; I got strawberry for myself, and I thought you would like sour apple.” He pulled a carton out of the fridge to reveal some orange juice. Erwin shook it slightly before getting a cup down for himself. “Do you want any?”

“No, I’m fine.” Truth be told, Levi was parched, he hadn’t had a drink of water since lunch, but the rain outside made it so unappealing he didn’t know what to do; he needed liquid. He took the liberty to walk over to the kitchenette and look inside the fridge himself, pushing things to the side, almost cataloging what else he could possibly eat or save for overnight if it came to that. Erwin leaned against the counter, watching Levi with his glass of orange juice in his left hand. Levi decided water would be enough for now, but only a small drink, so he took another cup down, Erwin moving out of his way, and turned towards the faucet. “Is this water filtered?”

“Yes. I don’t like buying bottled water so I thought that would be best.”

Levi nodded and moved his cup under the tap and turned the dial slowly in the cold direction, not expecting water to spray out at him. Levi dropped the glass into the sink and jerked away as fast as he could, quickly shaking his shirt and arms to get the excess water off of him, and then rubbing down his skin with his sleeves to make sure no water stayed on his skin long enough to cause his scales to grow and surface. It was too late though, Levi felt them growing, and hardening his skin under his sleeves. He looked back towards the sink and took a few shaky breaths before he glanced down, pulling his sleeve up to see how evident they were.

“I forgot the sink’s been a bit weird lately. I need to get someone up here to look at it. I’m sorry that happened, here’s a paper towel… are you okay?” Erwin turned from the faucet and the first thing he noticed was that Levi was staring at his arm quickly growing darker and more rigid. Levi jerked away from him, turning his back towards Erwin as he tried to quickly blow on his skin and dry it. “Take this.” Erwin then pushed the paper towel over his shoulder, and Levi swiped it from him, quickly running it over his scales and wringing out the water still in his shirt. He folded the shirt sleeve back down once it was acceptable and turned to see that Erwin’s shirt was soaking wet, sticking right to his skin. Erwin followed his gaze and looked down at his shirt and began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Levi narrowed his eyes at Erwin, who continued to laugh, his shoulders bouncing lightly as he walked towards one one of the larger cabinets in his office. It turned out to be a closet, the place where he kept his extra sets of clothes. Levi glanced back down at his arm while Erwin remained out of sight, cursing under his breath at his luck at having dark scales that were almost visible through his white shirt.

“Nothing, it’s just that we seem to both be getting our clothes wet. Your tea yesterday, the sink today.” Erwin moved behind the door, and Levi couldn’t pry his eyes away as he watched Erwin’s arms raise above the door with his wet salmon colored shirt making weird sloshy noises as he peeled it off. Then Levi’s eyes widened as he saw Erwin’s undershirt above the closet door, it was also soaking and dripping wet, and that was put on top of the other shirt. Then Erwin grabbed both of them and tossed them to his chair, and then the closet door closed, and Levi was pretty sure he was blinded by what he saw.

Erwin stepped away from the closet, holding a t-shirt in his hands, getting ready to put it on. He obviously didn’t notice that Levi was staring at him, his mouth open as he watched. Erwin’s chest and abdomen were perfectly toned, and the soft light from outside clashed with the harshness of the fluorescent light that came from above, and it was completely horrible for Levi’s health. He closed his mouth as Erwin raised his hands over his head, pulling the shirt down over his chest and stomach, rubbing his hands together afterwards and grabbing the clothes from his chair. Levi finally looked away before Erwin raised his gaze to him.

“I’m going to drop these off at the front desk, and I’ll get you a water bottle while I’m out.” Erwin waved at him, as though he hadn’t just given Levi a heart attack, and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was out of sight, Levi hurried over to his desk, dropping down into his chair as he quickly punched in Hanji’s number on the telephone. It rang a few times before she finally answered.

“Hello?”

“Hanji, it’s Levi.” And that was when he gave her full reign to take over the conversation.

“Levi! Where the fuck are you? It’s seven and I haven’t heard from you all day, you didn’t even text me saying you would be late! I was this close to calling the police. I thought you’d been kidnapped!” Levi kept the phone away from his ear while she yelled, and he brought it back hesitantly once she’d stopped.

“I forgot my phone this morning, and it’s pouring outside. I’m not going out in that shit. You should have thought to call here; the numbers on the fridge.”

“What? Well you could have called me earlier to let me know.”

“I was busy all day. They do call it work for a reason.” Levi chuckled and leaned back in his chair, calm until he remembered what he’d really called her for. “I need to tell you something important though; the reason I called.”

“Well spit it out!”

“I was about to get a drink of water, and the tap sprayed everywhere. My sleeves got real wet and my scales came up, and I’m pretty sure Erwin saw and just didn’t say anything.”

“Levi are you sure? I mean… are you sure he saw your scales? If he did, god, Levi. If Erwin saw your scales we might have to leave New York. Shit.” Hanji continued to talk to herself, and Levi was pretty sure he heard her hit herself in the head a couple times as she thought out loud.

“I know he saw them, Hanji, but we don’t have to leave if he doesn’t do anything about it. I don’t know him that well, but I think he’ll keep it to himself. That’s all we can hope for anyway.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I have a job set up in California I could take.”

“Yeah, but I don’t, and do you really wanna live on one income again?” Levi closed his eyes and rubbed his temples slowly, leaning back in his chair as the silence between them stretched on.

“No. Okay, we’ll wait and see if anything happens. Be more careful. Is there anything else?” Levi thought about her question, wondering if there was anything else worth mentioning about what had happened.

“Erwin turned off the sink, and afterward his shirt was soaking, and he changed in his office.” It wasn’t exactly as important as what he had already told her, but it was of some importance.

“Wait, you share his office, right? Did you see him?!”

“Yes, I saw him. He didn’t even seem to care that I was here... Hanji, fuck, he’s really hot.” Levi sighed, running his hand over his face and through his hair. He glanced outside the window, then back towards the door to make sure no one was closeby to overhear them.

“I told you when you saved him that he was good looking, but he’s off limits now. You know about workplace relationships,” Hanji laughed at him on the other side of the line, and he groaned.

“Yeah, I know. Now, I don’t know when I’ll be home tonight, if I’ll even be home tonight. I’m not going outside.” The rain still fell at the same pace as it had all day, at a pace that left a person soaking in minutes if they didn’t have the right clothes on or an umbrella.

“Alright, well, do you want me to get you food if you do? Have you eaten today?”

“I had lunch here, and Erwin just went to hopefully pick up what he ordered us, but yes, please get me some take out. Something greasy. He ordered food from this vegan restaurant down the road, and I can’t live like that.”

“You sure know how to pick them.” Hanji continued to laugh, and Levi couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by his situation.

“Plug my phone in too, so it’s ready for when I come back.”

“Will do, now you get back to working on getting that ass.”

“Hanji.”

“Whatever, I’ll see you later Levi.” Then she hung up her phone, leaving Levi alone in the office he shared with a man that was too good looking to be safe.

It wasn’t long before Erwin walked back into the office with a plastic bag and some water bottles for the both of them. He smiled at Levi and motioned for him to come over to the kitchenette. Levi rose from his seat and watched as Erwin pulled out the small round cardboard containers of frozen yogurt, then his own small casing of salad that seemed to be covered in a variety of things Levi couldn’t name. Erwin handed him a spoon and his yogurt, and Levi took it and went and jumped onto the other side of the counter, his desk seat having numbed his butt. Erwin leaned against the counter next to him as he used his fork to push through his salad, mixing it up better and finally getting a bite.

“What’s even in that thing?” It looked like a garden storm

“Tofu, almonds, spinach, walnuts, tomatoes, broccoli, and some other things.” Erwin held up his fork after piercing a piece of broccoli, holding it up to Levi. He stared at Erwin, confusion on his face. What the hell was he doing? Was he offering him a piece of his salad? What the fuck? Levi blinked a few times and returned to his frozen yogurt that he had yet to start, and noticed Erwin do almost the same, his cheeks turning a light pink. Levi pushed his spoon into the light soft green substance and wrinkled his nose before he took a bite. It wasn’t half bad, so he continued to eat it, the sour apple taste lingering on his tongue. The rain still continued to pelt against the window.

“When are you going home?” Levi asked after another bite. He didn’t care when Erwin left really, he was curious. This guy seemed to live in his office, he practically could from what Levi knew lay around the place. He continued to eat his yogurt, waiting for his answer.

“Probably after I finish eating. When are you? You were pretty good at leaving right at five yesterday. Why didn’t you do that today?” Erwin glanced in Levi’s direction before taking another bite, the crunch audible with his mouth closed.

“I didn’t bring an umbrella and it’s pouring outside. I’d rather stay in here than get soaked.” It seemed like a good enough reason, right? “Plus, I guess I can put in early overtime, I guess.”

Erwin chuckled at the last part and nodded. They both ate in silence a bit after that, and then Erwin pushed away from the counter, turning to face Levi.

“I can give you a ride home if you want, you won’t have to walk to the underground. I don’t know if it’ll be faster, but it’ll be drier, and I have an umbrella.” Erwin took a few more bites of his salad and then closed the container, putting it in the plastic bag. Levi replaced the top on his frozen yogurt, getting down from the counter.

“Really? I mean… yeah, that would be nice.” If it meant that Levi could get home to wash himself and sleep in his bed, then he was all for it, but he wasn’t so sure about Erwin. This guy was beyond weird, he’d offered him some of his dinner, to a guy he’d consciously just met the day before. Levi turned towards the fridge and opened the freezer placing his frozen yogurt inside for another day. Erwin came up behind him and moved to open the fridge, almost pushing Levi to the side with his body. He placed his salad in the fridge and then his own frozen yogurt in the freezer next to Levi’s.

“No one’s waiting for me back home, so it’d be no problem.” Erwin shrugged as he walked over to his desk to grab his jacket and rain coat, pulling both of them on soon after. “We can leave when you’re ready.”

“Alright, just a second.” Levi hurried over to his own desk, pulling his coat on and buttoning it up before stuffing his briefcase with his things and closing it. He almost looked for his phone before he remembered that he’d forgotten it back in the apartment that morning. Erwin waited for him by the door, a soft smile on his face that made it seem more tired than it already was. It was somewhat weird to see him like that; Levi had only seen him with excitement or determination in his face, his eyes, but now they were dull, worn out and in need of rest. They both needed sleep desperately, and it was obvious.

They both walked out of the office, and Levi had to do a double take to see how different the place was now. There were only a few people at cubicles, the rest were dark and made the room seem larger than before. It was silent except for the few bursts of typing, and Levi couldn’t help but roll his shoulders to fend off a chill. Erwin stayed ahead of him and opened the double glass doors, holding it to let Levi out in front of him before he swung by the now empty front desk. He paused there and brought out a stack of sticky notes and quickly scribbled something onto it before peeling the first one off and returning the rest to the drawer. Then they both headed for the elevator.

“Now, we have to walk just a bit to get to the garage, but my umbrella is big enough of both of us, so don’t worry. It’s just a block down the street.” And already Erwin seemed to know everything about how uncomfortable water made Levi, though he had no reasoning behind it. Erwin was trying to accommodate for him, and Levi didn’t know what to think about that. The elevator doors closed after they entered, and they thankfully only stopped one other time to let someone else on until they reached the bottom floor. It was almost empty, like the rest of the building, so they didn’t have a hard time getting to the door to leave.

Erwin exited first and opened up his umbrella before looking to Levi to join him, which he did soon after, hurrying under the umbrella and staying as close as he could to Erwin to avoid getting wet. The rain still fell in buckets around them, and Levi was lucky his shoes were already waterproof. There were other people on the sidewalk next to them, going the opposite direction, or just standing, waiting for a cab. Cars zoomed down the roads next to them, their windshield wipers running on overdrive, and their headlights blinding them both periodically; pedestrian signs beeped telling that those unfortunate souls who had to walk in this could, and that they had so many second left before they had a high chance of getting run over. It felt different to be walking out later than five, watching people who were probably all as tired as they were and just wanting to get home, it made some sort of peace settle over Levi and he relaxed his shoulders as they turned into the parking garage.

Erwin lowered his umbrella, and it wasn’t until then that Levi noticed how close together they had been standing. He felt his cheeks heat up as he took a step away from him, and he swore he saw Erwin’s face fall just a fraction from that; he looked lonely. They took the elevator in the garage to the fourth floor, and walked towards a small golden Chrysler, the doors unlocking as soon as Erwin pressed a button on the key of in his pocket. Erwin put his umbrella in the trunk, and then his own briefcase into the back seat, then finally settled into the driver’s seat. Levi got into the passenger seat, holding his own case in his lap, buckling soon after he closed the door.

“So, where am I dropping you off?”

“Bronx, just off of Morris Park Avenue.” Yes, it wasn’t a very respectable place, but it was what he and Hanji could afford with their income, and it did the job of giving them a home, at least when they didn’t lock themselves out. Erwin only nodded and started the car, quickly driving down the staircase until they were out of the parking garage and onto the road. Levi didn’t pay much attention to what happened outside the car, just staring at his feet and glancing over at Erwin as he draped his hands loosely across the wheel, his posture more relaxed than Levi had seen it in the office the day before. “Where do you live?”

“I have a place in Manhattan, not too far from here.” Erwin smiled, turning his face halfway to Levi, but keeping his eyes on the road. He wasn’t being nice, he was outright going out of his way to drive Levi home, he lived at least ten minutes from where Levi did, considering the traffic on a good day.

“Why are you driving me home? You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.” Erwin turned his head slightly ot Levi, his eyes lingering on him until they returned to the road.

An unspoken reason passed between them after that, and Levi just sighed and turned his head to look outside his window. It wasn’t soon after though that Erwin spoke again.

“You know about the Arizona trip I’m to go on in a few weeks?”

“That’s what I spent half the day finalizing.”

“Right, well, I was hoping you would go with me. Not only on that one, but the other trips I take as well. That’s the first cross country one though, and I wanted to tell you beforehand. You don’t have to, of course, but it would make things a lot easier, and you would be able to put down many hours of overtime.” Erwin seemed to get straight to the point. Levi swallowed thickly, thinking about traveling cross country with the guy he’d saved. Yeah, they could use the extra money, maybe he could even get a new phone finally, but Arizona? The place that was known to be hot all year ‘round?

“I don’t know, I’m not very comfortable in planes.”

“You don’t have to decide now, the trip isn’t until the end of April, but I would like you to consider it.”

“Okay, I will.” That didn’t mean that Levi would change his mind. Arizona was a horrible place in his mind, and he didn’t want to step a single foot within its borders. Levi turned from Erwin and back to the window, hoping that they could remain in silence the rest of the way.

Erwin stayed silent as well, and they drove on until Erwin got off at Morris Park Avenue, and then Levi began giving him directions. The entire time, Levi was sure Erwin had never driven there before, being a richer person driving in a poorer area, but he had gone there willingly, and Levi didn’t know what to think of that. Erwin finally stopped outside of one of the apartment buildings on the street. It rose at six stories, and with no elevator, Levi would need to climb to the fifth floor. Erwin smiled and put the car in park so Levi could get out, the rain falling softer against the windows and top of the car.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Though if you get sick, you can just call.” Erwin leaned over the median between the chairs and smiled as Levi quickly exited the car. He only nodded and then shut the door, hurrying towards the front door of the apartments and pulling out his key, cursing as the rain fell and soaked through his clothes. Levi stopped in the doorway, out of way of the rain, and watched as Erwin started his car back up and drove away down the road. When his car disappeared, Levi closed the door and looked at the stairs he would need to climb, dreading each one.

His skin began to prickle and harden as he got the second floor and he cursed under his breath and tried to pick up his pace, but his body was exhausted, and he couldn’t go as fast as he wanted. His boot slipped on one of the steps, and he swore he saw his life flash before him, but he continued up the steps, towards the apartment. Thankfully Hanji had left the door ajar, so Levi pushed the door open and closed it behind him, throwing his briefcase to the ground in a hurry to get to his room and to get his wet clothes off. Levi heard Hanji calling after him, but he ignored her as he peeled off his jacket and his shirt, tossing them onto his bed. His pants weren’t as wet, so he didn’t worry about those, but his arms and hands were less than okay.

“Levi, are you alright?” Hanji knocked on his door from the other side, being wise not to open it.

“Yeah, could you get me a towel?”

“Did you get wet?” Her voice grew soft, and Levi was about to rub his eyes when he saw the palms of his hands and how gray and light blue scales ran around them.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be right back, and I’ll heat your dinner up too.” He heard as her footsteps moved away, and he just collapsed onto his back, his eyes closed. The last thing he wanted to worry about now was Erwin finding out about his shitty life, but he’d pretty much given him that information when he’d told the guy where he lived. Levi sat back up and opened the door when Hanji knocked on it, taking the towel and using it to rub down his arms. She stayed in the doorway, and he looked to her to see her eyes clouded, and then she moved forward and wrapped her arms around him, her skin warm against his.

“Is that pizza ready?” Levi didn’t wrap his arms around her, just letting them hang to his sides, one holding the towel in a fist.

“Just about, I’ll go get it.” Hanji quickly stepped away and left his room, closing the door behind her. Levi sighed and closed his eyes again, looking towards the wet clothes on his bed and wishing none of this had ever happened.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, sorry you had to wait so long for this chapter! School is kicking ass! I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for reading!


	5. Touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin really wants, no he needs Levi to go to Arizona with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh!!! Sorry for the late update, Zip and I are super busy with life and everything. My finals are coming up so I don't know when the next update will be after this, but I am continuing, so no need to worry! Thank you for reading!!

 Erwin opened his eyes as his alarm clock went off, the siren loud enough to probably wake the residents in the apartments next to him. He turned his head to see the red numbers blaring back at him, reading half past four. His morning routine went without interruption once he rose from his bed, exercising until five, showering after, then eating breakfast, this morning consisted of oatmeal coated with whipped cream and strawberries. Afterwards he got dressed, picking out a nice plaid blue shirt and slowly buttoning it up and tucking it into his tan slacks. It was the beginning to any other day, and Erwin was prepared for the onslaught of work that would be hurled his way.

Like every morning, Erwin walked into the office at half past six, and like every morning he worked silently within his office, answering emails that had come in after he’d left the day before. His routine was different now though; it had changed as soon as he’d caused Levi to spill his tea over himself, or even before that when Mike had told him to hire an assistant to help with his workload. The endeavour had paid off, and ever since Levi had been working with him, he’d been able to get a lot more done, and get a lot more sleep too. Instead of leaving the office at eight and getting to bed at eleven, he was leaving closer to six thirty or seven, and getting to bed at ten, and Erwin needed every hour he could get.

It made him happier in the mornings, made his small little drawings of himself on his post its neater, and overall provided the workplace with a more alert manager. That meant that he was around the cubicles more, checking on the employees and their progress, and he didn’t miss their awkward smiles when he did. Erwin knew he wasn’t easily approachable, at least he had thought that, but Levi seemed to not think like the others that worked there. Though he seemed to avoid everyone and not Erwin, though it wasn’t as if he could, working in the same office and all. Either way, hiring Levi had changed a lot of things, and the first few months went by just like that. The next thing Erwin knew, he was waking up to the same alarm at the same time in the middle of April.

His regular procedure was clouded with plans of what he was to do in the next few days to prepare for him leaving. Erwin knew he’d be gone at least a week, if not more, and so those thoughts slowed him. He didn’t work out, skipping over that in order to get everything else ready. Erwin found himself leaving his apartment rather later than he’d done in a while, and when he locked the door to his, he saw his neighbor, an elderly woman in her early seventies, locking her door as well. Erwin waved to her, and she smiled somewhat awkwardly back as they met each other at the elevator. The ride down to the bottom floor was silent except the faint music coming from the audio player of another person who happened to be in there with them, and it made the ride that much more granular.

The thought to check the time hadn’t occurred to him until he was walking out of his apartment building, and so Erwin checked his watch to see it reading half past seven. At this rate he couldn’t even dream of driving, and so he headed towards the nearest subway entrance. The passages underneath the entirety of the city were of course helpful, but Erwin hadn’t found himself using them often when he rose early enough that driving wasn’t hard, and left late enough to not have the same problem.

Though not using the subway meant that Erwin was not used to the immense cloud of heat that rolled over him as soon as he climbed down the stairs into the tunnels. He blinked a few times before he went and purchased a day use card for himself, quickly going through the turnstiles and joining the throng of people as they headed towards their trains. Erwin looked at one of the many maps that stood abound in the large area, and found the train that he would need to take, and quickly moved to stand near where it would stop.

Others passed by him, either realizing they were in the wrong place, or seeing someone they knew, and he tried to move around to get out of their way, but sometimes he just couldn’t avoid them bumping into him, and he apologized every single time. Some of them bumped into him on purpose, and more than a few of those were homeless, their hair grimey, and their skin covered in a thin layer of dirt, small breaks and clear lines next to their eyes where they sweat. Only a few were asking for money, and each time Erwin felt obliged to pull out a few dollars and hand them down. By the time his train arrived, he’d already given out ten, but it wasn’t really anything to him in the scheme of things. He helped them with whatever they needed, at least he hoped so. He wouldn’t worry himself if they used their money poorly, that was their decision.

The train stopped in front of the mass of people, and they almost fought to get on the already crowded train. Erwin tried to push through them, but also tried to not hurt anyone in the process, watching his feet, and where his arms went, trying to prevent hitting anyone with his elbows. He forced himself into the train just as the doors were about to close, and sighed before raising his hand to hold the rail. There were a few people around him who eyed him suspiciously, but he didn’t let that get to him. Then the train jerked forward, and the group of people standing did with it. He checked his watch again to see it was ten before eight, and he thought that maybe he could still make it on time to the office.

As it was though, he got to the office late, and happened to meet Levi in front of the building. They walked in together, and Erwin didn’t try to stay too far away from him, their arms brushing lightly against each other as they walked. The elevator doors opened in front of them and they both entered.

“You know, I’m leaving for Arizona in a week,” Erwin mentioned, the elevator music playing in the background. Levi was dressed in his usual attire of a suit jacket and his shirt, his cravat hanging loose and not tucked in. He glanced to Erwin before his eyes went to the door again, and Erwin smiled before watching as the doors opened to let them onto their floor. They walked through the glass doors and down the aisle without speaking, and then into the large office. Levi settled down at his desk, the red light on his phone blinking consistently. Erwin sat in his own desk, and then spoke across the room, “And I can still get another ticket.”

Erwin knew that Levi did not want to go to Arizona, but for whatever reason, he didn’t know. Levi visibly slumped, and gathered himself before he replied.

“Erwin, I already told you-”

“I know, you can’t stand the weather there, but we won’t be there for long. Most of the time we’d be in buildings, which do have air conditioning. There’s nothing to worry about.” Erwin turned his own computer on, and opened up his laptop, turning that on as well. His own phone on his desk had messages waiting for him, but he could postpone those while he talked with Levi.

“That doesn’t make me want to go. I don’t want to be stuck in a hotel room for a week.” Levi groaned, wiping his hand over his face. His eyes looked weary, and Erwin could see the small bruises under them from his desk. Levi must not have slept well, and he didn’t seem to have coffee or tea with him either. Erwin rose from his desk, ignoring his phone, and walked over to the small kitchenette and continued to talk.

“But it’ll be a luxury hotel. It’s all paid for by the company, there’s no need for you to worry about anything.” Erwin moved around the kitchenette, putting a small kettle onto the stove and then looking around in the cupboards, trying to find the boxes of tea he knew he’d put there at one point in the recent past. Levi didn’t seem to notice what he was doing, because soon enough the sound of typing filled the room, and Erwin wondered what his word per minute was; it was probably on his resume.

“Erwin, I’ve made up my mind. I’d like it if you didn’t mention it again.” Levi continued to type as he talked, and Erwin sighed, finally pulling down the small box of black tea and placing it on the counter. He pulled out one of the mugs as well, and placed one of the bags of tea into it. A few minutes later, when he made sure the rest of the kitchenette was clean, the kettle started whistling. Erwin turned the burner off and poured the boiling water into the mug; he could see in the corner of his eye Levi watching him.

“Milk and sugar?” Erwin grabbed both of them out of their set places, looking to the other man for his answer.

“Neither.” Levi only met his eyes for a second before he returned to his work, his fingers swiping over the keyboard as he composed whatever he did, probably another detailed email about the trip Erwin was to take the next week that would be sent to a number of other people who had expected him to be in his office because they hadn’t read the last three emails he’d sent them. Erwin dipped the tea bag in a few more times before he removed it, placing it in the sink. He then put the milk and sugar away before taking the mug back up in his hands and walking over to Levi’s desk.

Erwin stood in front of Levi, the desk the only thing separating them. Levi didn’t look to him though, his eyes glancing down to his fingers when they weren’t looking over the text he typed up onto his computer screen. Erwin placed the mug in front of him and continued to stay silent for another minute.

“I really would appreciate you being there beside me. It would make me more comfortable, but I understand. I’ll have to see if I can get someone else to come with me then.” Either way, if Levi didn’t come, Erwin did need someone else with him, because there were so many things that would be planned out during this trip, he wasn’t sure if he could keep track of all of it by himself. Levi’s typing only paused for a moment, and Erwin smiled internally before he walked back over to his desk. “The last time I went somewhere without an assistant, I drove off a bridge because no one was with me to keep me awake.”

Levi began to curse, and Erwin looked away from his own computer to see that Levi had spilled the tea all over his desk. Levi was frantically trying to lift his computer off and away from the spilled liquid, though keeping himself far away from it as well. Erwin moved quickly to the kitchenette, grabbing a towel and placing it over the pool of tea. It soaked it up quite nicely, though Levi’s desk would smell like it for a few days. Levi took in large breaths through his nose still, and Erwin moved the towel away, making sure he got every last drop before throwing it over into the sink. He picked up the mug then, and Levi moved his computer back, trying to recompose himself as he sat back down.

“You shouldn’t have been careless enough to drive when you were tired,” he stated simply. Erwin rose an eyebrow, a smirk rising over his face as Levi tried to gather himself.

“I had to be somewhere that night, and I hadn’t been that tired when I started off. Would you like another cup of tea?” Erwin walked over to the sink and placed the mug into it, turning his head to see Levi staring at him.

“No, I’ll get some during lunch.” Levi moved to look back at his computer screen, and Erwin nodded before he returned to his as well.

The next few hours seemed dull, the emails were not exciting in any way, though they never had been, and Levi stayed silent except for the click of the keys in front of him, which made Erwin more annoyed by the minute. He wasn’t needed anywhere until that afternoon, but his legs were itching to walk somewhere. He could always take an early lunch, it was about eleven anyway, and it wasn’t like anyone else in the building could tell him he couldn’t. Erwin decided then that he would, and turned his computer off, standing and rolling his shoulders a bit before he picked up his coat.

“Levi, come have lunch with me. You can get back to work afterward.” Erwin pulled his coat on, buttoning it up his chest to protect himself from the chill outside, and then grabbed his cellphone from his desk, dropping it into his pocket.

“I’ll take lunch later. I’m in the middle of writing this email, and I need to make a few more calls before twelve.” Everything was business now, as though the first week Levi had worked for him was gone, when they’d bonded the most, if Erwin could really call if that. They’d had dinner together, even if it had consisted of frozen yogurt and an awkward silence caused by him losing his place. Lunch wasn’t very different, and it wasn’t raining outside, so it should have been fine, but no. Levi had constantly been getting his work done early, leaving Erwin alone in his office for another hour and a half each night while he left at half past four.

“I’m not asking you. We’re going to go have a nice break from all this, and eat somewhere good. There’s a place not three blocks away that has amazing pizza.” Erwin walked over to Levi’s desk, just standing over him, waiting for him to turn it off and join him. Levi stared back at him for a brief second before he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Wait a second. I’m almost done with this one.” Levi’s hands then continued to move across the keyboard, though he shortly moved one hand to his mouse, and clicked several things in quick succession before he turned his monitor off and rose from his seat. Again, Erwin was reminded of how short Levi was, rising only under his shoulder, and never more. He smiled, and Live rolled his eyes before grabbing his own coat and pulling it on. “Let’s get going then. Show me this place.”

Erwin smiled and he headed for the door to this office, holding it open for Levi before the two of them set down the long walkway to exit their floor and enter the elevator. There were a few other people in there when they entered, and adding themselves, they were all quite crowded, which meant that they were standing chest to chest, though Levi’s head was more to his chest than anything else. Erwin smiled at the other patrons within the elevator, and then down at Levi, who only gave a small scowl before looking to the doors as they opened again, only to let three more people on. They were really squished together now. Levi couldn’t try to move to put his back to Erwin’s chest, instead just staring straight ahead of him. Erwin almost felt uncomfortable by the situation, heat spreading through his chest and cheeks as the elevator continued to descend. They didn’t have to live through it long, as they reached the bottom floor, and they thankfully all departed from the elevator.

Erwin and Levi exited the large building, Erwin holding the door for a few more people before he took his place beside the shorter man as they started to walk down the street. Naturally the sidewalks were large, but Erwin still found himself walking close to Levi, arms brushing against one another every so often, though Erwin made it seem as though he didn’t notice.

“There are a million places that sell pizza here, so this better be good.” Levi seemed rather upset that he’d been stolen away from his work, and Erwin couldn’t help but be amused by that. That was all the two of them seemed to do, work. Erwin thought that maybe he should do this more often, steal Levi away from his desk and get themselves out into the city; he liked Levi’s presence next to him, and maybe they both needed more socialization.

“It is. I’ve gone here for smaller meetings before, though it isn’t ideal to have meetings at a restaurant. People tend to focus more on the food than the plans.” Erwin shrugged as he talked, and then stopped to press a crosswalk button, almost moving his arm in front of Levi so the other man couldn’t pass into oncoming traffic. Levi glanced up at him at the gesture, but said nothing, and Erwin was glad for that, and then commenced walking again as soon as the small sign flashed a walking stickman. Levi didn’t continue the conversation, just continuing to walk along by Erwin’s side as they made their way towards the small pizza shop.

The outside of the shop seemed to blend in well with the throw up of neon and clashing colors that was New York City, and made it hard to find between all the larger buildings and small stores that accumulated on the bottom street level, but Erwin did find it. A large window faced the street, and a red and white striped awning sat over the door maybe a foot. Erwin opened the door, a bell ringing as he did, and then held it open for Levi to enter in front of him. The place had a few tables close to the window, a few pressed right up against it, and then the rest of the shop was the kitchen. They mostly delivered and expected people to take one of the boxes out of the store; not many people stopped long enough in New York to actually sit down and enjoy a meal.

The restaurant only had a few other people in it, as the lunch rush that was so prevalent that deep within the city hadn’t yet started, and even they didn’t take up at least half of the shop. Erwin smiled at the cashier that stood at the counter that blocked the kitchen off from the rest of the restaurant. Levi stayed behind him, scanning over the menu that rested above the counter, pinned to the wall behind, though it read the regular things about types of pizzas and sides you could get. Erwin ordered two slices, one with pepperoni, and one with a multitude of vegetables. Levi paused, still contemplating the menu, and then ordered plain cheese pizza, two slices. They both got water, soda not appealing to either of them, then Erwin pulled out his wallet and paid for their meal, and their paper plates were soon handed to them, steam rising off of the cheesy slices.

The two of them took one of the tables facing the street, and Erwin picked up one of the napkins in the metal holder placed in the middle, just putting it next to his plate for when he would need it. Levi took one as well, though he tucked it into his neck, and then began eating. After he took his first bite, Erwin couldn’t help but smile; Levi obviously liked it. Levi seemed to notice him though, because he patted his mouth with a napkin and promptly spoke up.

“I’m still not going with you.” Levi continued to eat afterward, not looking up from his plate. Erwin raised an eyebrow at his statement, swallowing a bite before speaking. He was very aware that the table between them barely covered his legs, and that his feet were next to Levi’s, and he couldn’t help but move slightly, feeling them rub together. Levi looked as though he hadn’t noticed the light touch.

“Did you think that was my motive?”

“What else would you bring me out to lunch for at this point?” Levi did look up at him when he asked this, an incredulous look on his face. There was a simple enough answer to that, and Erwin promptly gave it after another bit of his own pizza, their legs still touching, and Levi still not moving his away.

“Because we’re friends, and we’ve gone out to eat before. Camaraderie is the goal of this meal; it’s supposed to feel less like work if you have fun, and you don’t have nearly as much fun as you should.” Though Erwin had thought that the added extravagance could sway Levi to changing his mind, he knew that it would most likely not change it. There was a truth to his last statement though, and he would stick by that. Erwin finished off the crust of his pepperoni piece, and started the vegetable one after wiping away the grease on a napkin.

“Is that why you draw yourself over everything?” Levi deadpanned. He placed down his current slice of pizza, taking a drink of water while he waited for Erwin’s reply. It was hard to reply to that though, because part of the reason he drew himself on his small notes he handed to Levi, or left in various places, was so that people knew it was him who left it. That had certainly worked out well enough, and he hadn’t fully thought about how silly it was.

“I thought that would be something that could lift the mood in such a serious place.”

“You did do something to the mood around there.” Levi almost hinted at a smile then, and even if Erwin didn’t quite understand what he meant underneath his statement, he was glad he could at least get Levi to relax a little bit. Their legs stayed close under the table, still touching, more now than before when Erwin had moved his, and the warmth between them felt comfortable enough that they no longer talked while they finished their meal. When they were done and about to ride from their table, Erwin almost asked Levi if he wanted to do dessert as well before he caught himself. That would have been pushing it a little too far, so they finished and left the restaurant, walking back to their building fifteen minutes before noon.

The sidewalks were filled with people all heading to lunch when they exited the restaurant; the mass of people were done with being on their butts at desks where they felt like nothing was accomplished. Erwin felt as though he and Levi were swimming upstream as they traveled back to the building, staying close together, and Erwin even reaching for his hand a few times to make sure they stayed together; neither of them talked about that though. They were lucky enough to be the only ones traveling up in their elevator though, so that gave them both ample room to relax one final time before returning to their office. Of course when they entered the office, both of their desk phones blinked, missed calls waiting for them. They both got to work rather quickly after that, and the nice lunch they shared moved to the back burner of Erwin’s mind as he dealt with people who obviously didn’t understand that he had to cater to everybody.

At three in the afternoon, Erwin had a conference call concerning the trip to Arizona Levi was so adamant about staying out of, but he had to be on the call anyway to make Erwin’s plans. They both sat at their desks, Erwin glancing up from his keyboard and away from his computer screen every so often to see the look of utter disinterest on Levi’s face. He just didn’t seem to get how useful he would be if he just went with Erwin, and how much easier it would be if he went along with him to Arizona. Erwin commented on one of the plans, and nodded to Levi to take it down in his notes, and continued along. They wanted to make sure that the building they were renovating had everything possible for the higher ups who would frequent there for larger decisions, as it was sort of a middle ground instead of one batch of them traveling cross country for everything.

They wanted paintings and things put on hold, to rent and place within the building, one of the people thought that having one too many vending machines would be annoying, and so Erwin had to take count with how they handled that within the building, and where those sorts of things would be placed. The call didn’t end until around five, and Erwin could hardly believe he’d sat in his chair and actually talked to other people for two hours. His throat felt dry, so as soon as he hung up his phone he closed his eyes and leaned back as he drank from his water bottle.

“There are a few more things I need you to do before you leave today, Levi. I have to go upstairs and meet with a few others on doing some changes with our floors here, so I’ll be back in around an hour.” Erwin stood from his chair, resisting the urge to run a hand through his hair, and instead pulling out a comb to make sure it stayed neat. Levi was drinking his tea, something he picked up before the call had started and hadn’t ever really gotten a break to take a sip of. He nodded to Erwin, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before wiping it on a napkin close by.

“I might leave before you get back if I finish them.”

“Well if you do, I hope you have a nice night.” Erwin smiled tiredly, picking up his tablet and sending the list of things to Levi. He waved as he left the office, and then headed towards the stairs. Usually, Erwin was one to take steps two at a time, but the day had been so weary that he didn’t feel as though he had the energy. Work did take its toll on him, but he was usually good at not showing it to anyone else, and so the secluded staircase that only a few people ever really climbed got to witness how entirely weary he was. The meeting room was the same old one, the paint faded and dull, inducing a sense of boredom and everything else Erwin didn’t need at the moment. The rest of his coworkers were already there, having come down from their upper floor.

“Erwin, we were waiting for you.” And that was the beginning of what would be an entirely too long meeting about how Erwin seemed to care more about the appearance of other offices than his own. a meeting about how he should change that and have more pride in the company and make their New York office more appealing. They had the money to have an office there after all, they should be able to keep it up.

It was past seven o’clock by the time Erwin climbed down the stairs to walk back to his office. He didn’t expect Levi to be in the office anymore, and his expectations were met, though with an added surprise. The office was spotless. All the papers that Erwin had stacked in piles, though in no order whatsoever, sat on his desk in order by date, or ones that needed attention first. The kitchenette was clean, and Erwin could almost see his reflection in the sink. There didn’t seem to be a speck of dust around the office either, and it was all a pleasant surprise, and he knew exactly who had done it.

Erwin walked over to his desk, and saw a small sticky note stuck to the monitor of his computer, small, elegant handwriting adorning it. It read, ‘I’ll go with you so long as you don’t make a mess this bad in your office again.’ And then a small ‘L.B.’ came after it. Erwin peeled the note from his computer and smiled down at it, placing it atop one of the piles of papers. He needed to get to a few more things before he could leave, but it didn’t feel so much as work while he did so, a smile on his face the entire time.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Erwin went by his same routine, waking, working out, showering, eating, and then finally leaving for work. His morning cycle was a habit, so much so that Erwin no longer had to think in the morning until he arrived at work, and then Levi broke that. He smiled when Levi entered the office, at eight o’clock like every morning, and continued to work, typing up a list of things he needed to finish before he could even think about going to Arizona. The office continued to stay quiet after that, Levi getting to work as soon as he sat down, and the two of them not having to communicate by mouth.

Around ten in the morning, Erwin took a small break from his desk, standing by the kitchenette, leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee in both hands. Levi stayed at his desk, and this time Erwin made him some tea without asking questions, sitting on a clear space on Levi’s desk with both cups in his hands. Levi stopped what  he was doing and looked up at him, though his face clearly showed apathy, Erwin knew he was tired and could use a break too.  

“Thank you, by the way, for cleaning the office. I would have gotten to it eventually, but it helped.” Erwin handed him his mug, and when Levi took it, his hands lingered a second longer over ERwin’s hand. Then he leaned back in his chair, holding it in both hands as he took a sip. “And thank you for agreeing to come with me.”

“I’m only coming with you if you can keep your shit organized. I know you won’t be able to do that over there without me, and that would affect me even here, so it’s more me taking care of my job than looking after you.” It seemed as though Levi was covering everything up that would seem as though he cared for Erwin. He didn’t want to make it seem as though there was a relationship beyond the one they had now between work partners.

“Of course.” Erwin smiled as he drank his coffee, looking from Levi to the window that showed them the bustling outside world, the many other people in the buildings around them doing work that was almost the same, or not, they didn’t really care to find out or know. “You’ll want to make sure you book yourself a ticket then for the plane ride there, and a hotel room unless you’re okay with sharing a bed with me.”

“I get it, and I’ll get to it. Now get off my desk so I can get back to work.” Levi wrinkled his nose, and then placed his mug where Erwin had been sitting after he moved. Erwin took one final look over Levi and his desk before he placed his now empty coffee cup in the sink, running a little water into it before walking back over to his desk and continuing with the pile of papers Levi had organized last night.

They stayed quiet again, the tapping of kills filling the silence as they worked towards their departure, and again at lunch Erwin paused his work, and asked Levi to eat with him. It didn’t take coaxing this time, or a direct order, not that it had been the day before. Levi finished what he had been working on, and they forgoed their jackets as they walked towards the elevators, Erwin smiling and waving at a few of his employees as they greeted him.

The elevator was packed, it being just at the crook of twelve, and so Erwin and Levi packed themselves in side by side, their hands barely touching, but enough to make Erwin smile at the doors in front of him. He glanced down for a second at Levi, whose cheeks had a light dusting of pink across the top, and that was enough to set a small fire beneath Erwin’s heart, content with everything around him.

The doors opened and they all spilled out of the elevator, ready to go somewhere for lunch, or to at least get ouf of the office for an hour. Erwin did take Levi’s hand this time, his palm soft under Erwin’s own, guiding him towards the Starbucks next door, letting go as soon as they were out of the throng of people. They both entered and Levi grabbed a table for them, Erwin fine with waiting in line for their small cold sandwiches that were way overpriced. Erwin didn’t feel like walking very far, and so it was good enough for him.

They only had water with their lunch, and after they finished, Erwin took the initiative to ask Levi what he wanted to drink to pull him through the two conference calls they had scheduled for that afternoon. They stood in line next to each other, and Levi skimmed over the menu above them before answering.

“Shaken black iced tea.” It was something simple, another thing that Erwin could appreciate about him was his simplicity in his wants. Erwin ordered both of their drinks getting himself iced green tea. He paid for both of them and then they walked out of the Starbucks and slowly towards their building. that hadn’t taken particularly long with their lunch, so the majority of people were either now leaving their cubicles and offices or there wasn’t anyone, so their elevator up was empty except for them.

“Would you like to do something tonight, together I mean? It is Friday, and we’re leaving early Monday morning.” It was an awkward question. It would be one final time to relax before they were on call and working almost all hours of the day. Being in a strange place never really let you settle, and so this would be their last chance to relax and have some sort of fun before they were willed to the brim with tension and appointment times they would never be able to remember. Levi stayed silent for a bit until he shrugged his shoulders.

“What did you have in mind?” The elevator doors opened to let them onto their floor, and they both walked out and down the long aisle, Erwin holding the door open for him.

“Just a drink or two at a bar, something to help us relax. I know a few that are a bit outside the city that don’t get much traffic that we could go to after work. We could grab dinner too.”

Erwin stood by Levi’s desk as he sat down, his hand resting on the top as he watched Levi’s hands skim over the keys to start the device up. Levi seemed to think about it a bit longer than Erwin anticipated, and then finally gave him an answer.

“That would be nice, I guess.” Levi stopped what he was doing, and looked up to Erwin, who smiled back at him.

“Wonderful. We can get off around five and then leave for dinner.” Erwin tapped his hand twice on the desk before he left to go and sit at his own, stealing another glance at Levi, whose face held clouds of pink over his cheeks. Erwin knew his own face would betray him, the heat resting in it visible to all, but he didn’t care. He was quite content with where he was now.

Five o’clock didn’t come soon enough for Erwin, and when it did, he knew his face betrayed how he felt. He was more than excited for this prospective date, though he knew Levi probably didn’t view it as one. Surely it was one though? What else could it be called other than a date? Erwin shut his things off and piled other papers and his tablet into his briefcase; he could worry about those tomorrow. Levi gathered his things as well, and Erwin waited for him by the door, his jacket slung over his arm.

“Are we eating outside the city too?” Levi asked as they exited the office. Erwin nodded his head, his eyes looking straight forward, aiming towards the exit. Levi walked next to him, close of his own accord now, their arms constantly sweeping against one another until they entered the elevator along with several others. Erwin leaned against the wall of the small room, and Levi stood in front of him, not looking at each other and just keeping the silence still between them.

Once out of the building, Erwin guided Levi to his car, both of them getting into the golden Chrysler. There was more traffic at this time of day, and Erwin almost regretted setting their time to leave at five, when he could have gotten out of the city much quicker if they had left later. But it meant more time alone with Levi, and even though they didn’t talk much within the confines of the vehicle, Erwin reveled in it all the same. They made it to the restaurant at half past six, and it was empty save for a family eating at a booth.

It was a small diner outside of New York, a place that only a few would really think about going to; why would they go there when they could go into the city and find a nicer place? That meant it was almost deserted, and that Erwin and Levi had some semblance of privacy. The restaurant walls were covered in warm colors, almost resembling the setting sun, giving the building a languid atmosphere.

Erwin approached the hostess’s podium, and tapped it once, awakening the young woman from her leisure that happened to be in the form of a phone and earbuds. She was quick to right her position, smiling at both of them as she fixed her apron and name tag, which read Charlotte.

“Would you two like a booth?” She grabbed menus from underneath the podium as Erwin nodded his head, and she smiled again, pushing her brown hair behind her ear.  The booth they were showed was in the corner of the room, secluded from everywhere else and out of sight of the door. Erwin took the side facing the wall, and Levi took the seat that would face the door, if he could see over the upholstery. Charlotte gave them both menus, and asked if they wanted anything to drink. Erwin raised his eyebrow at Levi who shrugged.

“We’ll have your alcoholic speciality drink, whatever it is, to start. Also with some water, please.” Erwin smiled at her one last time before she left, her cheeks blazing like a fire. He turned back to Levi who watched after her, an almost invisible scowl on her face. Erwin chuckled as he opened and began to peruse his menu. “She hasn’t committed a crime. You don’t have to scowl at her like that.”

“I wasn’t scowling.” Levi then opened his own menu and used it to hide his face, and Erwin couldn’t help but smirk.

“I’m very happy that you agreed to come with me, Levi. Our time together has always been pleasing, and I smile whenever I think back on it.” And that was true. Even their silent hours within the office seemed brighter whenever Levi was there, at least now that Erwin thought back on them.

“You’re really hopeless.” Levi seemed tired of whatever Erwin was playing, rolling his eyes as he lowered his menu just a bit to look at him. But Erwin wouldn’t give him the pleasure of playing his game, and so he closed his menu and placed it down on the table, giving Levi his full attention.

“Oh, how so?”

“Erwin, it’s obvious. It’s practically written all over your face; stop playing around.” The color in Levi’s cheeks told Erwin he was exasperated with the situation, but Erwin couldn’t stop now. Part of him didn’t want to force his affections out, though he knew by what he’d done within the last few days showed them greatly.

“I hadn’t realized I was playing.”

“For fuck’s sake, Erwin. Are you shit-” and then Charlotte returned to them with a tray holding their drinks. Erwin turned to her, still smiling as he took his glasses from her.

“Are you two ready to order?” She looked between the two of them, holding up a pad of paper as her elbow held the tray against her body. She clicked her pen, waiting on them. Erwin quickly opened his menu back up, and looked to the larger text that read off the specialty burger they hailed their fame for.

“I’ll have your house burger, with extra fries on the side. No sauce, please.” Erwin then folded his menu and handed it to her, folding his hands on top of the table. He glanced over to Levi, who glared over his menu before he gave up and handed his in as well.

“I’ll have the same thing as him. Hold the tomatoes and ketchup.” Levi didn’t smile up to Charlotte like Erwin did, and he could see how she took that, her face growing slightly fearful before she took both of the menus and left them with saying their food would be down in at least eight to ten minutes. Then they were alone again, and Erwin turned to see Levi had turned his glare on him.

“I hope you like your drink,” Erwin commented, taking the lemon from the rim of his glass and squeezing it into the liquid.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Erwin. Don’t play like you don’t know exactly what you’re doing; you’re trying to romance me into something or make me feel guilty for not agreeing to go to Arizona with you sooner. You’re fucking lucky I finally agreed to go, because you know you’d sink without me.” Levi then took up his own lemon and just pushed it into his drink with his spoon, stirring it around with the ice cubes until they were spinning in a small vortex.

“You’re right, I would sink without you. You’re a necessity to my sanity at this point, Levi. I won’t deny that. I don’t know where I would be now if I hadn’t hired you.” Erwin just looked to his own glass, tapping it slightly with his index finger while he spoke.

“You’re fucking right.” Levi picked up his glass and took a long drink from it before placing it back down, half empty and the ice clinking against the sides. He began to relax after that outburst, and Erwin let a small smile color his face while they waited in silence for their meals.

Their first round of alcohol stayed solitary, as they would wait to go to someplace classier with a better selection; they didn’t want to force beer onto themselves, especially Erwin who was used to much better. Their meal stopped after their main course, not wanting to spoil themselves with dessert when they had plans later. They didn’t talk much while they ate, and soon enough Erwin was paying their bill, and they were walking back outside the diner and heading towards his car.

“Now to the bar.” Erwin said as he pressed the ignition button behind the wheel. they both buckled, and Erwin was more than alert as he drove them back towards the city. This time though, he drove and parked in in the structure his apartment building supplied. Levi had no clue where they were, and he couldn’t help but continue to smile because of that.

“Where are we?” Levi looked around the block, obviously not familiar with the small area, though Erwin himself knew it like the back of his hand.

“We just parked by my apartment, which is up there,” Erwin paused, placing his hand on Levi’s shoulder and pointing towards a window up towards the eighth story of a building behind them. “And we’re going to a bar I usually go to on Friday. We might meet some of my friends there, if they’re not already drunk.”

“It’s only seven,” Levi pointed out, looking to his own watch. Erwin nodded and removed his hands from his shoulder, though letting it draw lightly down his arm.

“It’s also Friday.”

“Touché.” Levi stopped his arm from moving away completely, and instead joined their fingers, saying nothing about it as Erwin began their short walk towards his favorite bar.

A few blocks down from Erwin’s apartment were a number of small stores and bars and restaurants, as all of New York knew so well. A few of the bars were filled, and it was the ones that played faster music, and had more neon and brighter colors. The one Erwin walked and lead Levi towards played music so soft you could barely hear it, and the lights were dim enough it almost seemed as if they were off. The bar had only two other people at it, and Erwin and Levi took seats at the end. The bartender, a towel over her shoulder and a bottle of gin in her hand, walked over to them with a soft smile on her face.

“What can I get you boys?”

“I’ll take some bourbon, and he’ll have,” Erwin glanced over to Levi who went ahead and ordered for himself.

“Vodka and coke.” Levi seemed to know what he wanted, and Erwin supposed that maybe he was used to this sort of pastime, and hopefully he’d be comfortable. And that was the beginning of their night, with small drinks that gradually moved to them trying each others and ordering another round and then a third. As they continued, their barstools grew closer, their knees perpetually touching along with their arms and Erwin even let his hand linger over Levi’s when he would take his glass to try a sip. And the drinks kept coming too. Erwin didn’t exactly keep track of them until he was pretty sure if he stood up he would fall right over. Levi seemed to be faring much better, at least with the whole walking bit.

“Levi, could you,” Erwin took a pause, drinking from the small glass of water in front of him, “Could you help me over to that booth?” Erwin wasn’t going to even attempt to walk by himself until he was confident enough that he could keep track of the ground in front of him. There were others in the bar now, and so they weren’t alone, and Erwin would rather them talk in private, if he could manage not fall on his face or regurgitate the meal they ate before. Whoever had told him that trying vodka would be good needed to be slapped, but that would mean Erwin would need to find someone other than Levi to blame. The other patrons in the bar made it somewhat hard to hear Levi the first time, and Erwin winced at the music that turned on as Levi began to reply.

“Yeah,” Levi got down from his stool, one hand trailing lightly over Erwin’s arm as he did, and after blinking a few times, he helped Erwin down from his stool and they walked arm in arm over to a booth, where they awkwardly both sat on the same side. Erwin leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and rubbing his head. Levi just lumped next to him, their shoulders squished together while they sat on a bench clearly not meant for two people. A few times Levi’s head even rested against his arm, though only for fleeting seconds before he would dart back up and frown.  

Erwin didn’t know how long they had been sitting there, but some time later some holy person came over to them with a small bowl of pretzels and two glasses of cold water, and Erwin thanked them profusely before taking a few of the pretzels and nibbling on them. He handed one to Levi who took it hesitantly, just biting a part of it off and then looking at the other part in his hand.

“When do you think we can leave?” Levi asked with a sigh. He wasn’t feeling too hot either, or he already would have. The side of his head touched Erwin’s arm again, leaving it warm before he lifted it away. They both seemed to agree that they hadn’t exactly planned on drinking as much as they had.

“I don’t know.” Erwin wouldn’t tell him that he didn’t want to leave, that he wanted to stay sitting this close to Levi for a few more hours, days, and a longer time that he wouldn’t let himself think about. “I don’t want to leave yet.”

And that one comment elicited a pause between the two of them, one neither of them wanted to break. Levi rested his head on Erwin’s shoulder again, and sighed, closing his eyes. Erwin hadn’t exactly been hiding the fact that his like of Levi was more than just as a work partner, and Levi had been able to see right through him.

“Let’s get some more drinks then.” Levi suggested, and Erwin swallowed thickly at the idea of drinking more than they already had. He didn’t exactly want to die early from alcohol poisoning or anything, but then again he didn’t know when he’d have another opportunity to be with Levi for so long.

“I don’t think that’s smart. Maybe… maybe just something small then… More bourbon.” Ordering them two more glasses of bourbon wasn’t hard, and soon enough they had their small tumblers in their hands, and Erwin drank his slower than he had before. Levi did not; he downed his glass particularly fast and then turned his body so that his back was against the wall and he was facing Erwin. They were still considerably close to one another, and it was hard for Erwin to keep his gaze on the other man’s eyes when his whole body was just right there, underneath only a few layers of clothes.

“Levi, I… I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable at dinner. I guess I should have told you my intentions and not danced around it.” And here Erwin began to give away the fact that he was a sappy drunk. He did feel bad, he should have told Levi right out that it was a date, and hoped that Levi would agree to that, and change their relationship from an awkward coworker one to a romantic one.

“I fucking knew what you were doing, you didn’t hide it. It’s obvious you make doe eyes at me whenever I’ve got my head turned. You know that the others in the office talk about us, right?” It was hard to gauge Levi’s reaction as angry or just simply tired, but Erwin knew that it was more than likely both.

“Yes.”

“Are you saying you’re okay with that?”

“Are you?” Truth be told, Erwin knew his employees talked about him and every other person he got close to within the workplace. For months people had thought he and Mike were dating simply because they shared an apartment. Sure, they’d had drunken sex a few times, but nothing more, and always woke up friends; but Mike had only been living with him until he could save up the money to buy a house outside the city; it was a friendly thing to do, and nothing else had come of it. Now, with Levi though, he didn’t exactly know what to do about the rumors. They obviously weren’t true, he hadn’t touched Levi in the ways they all whispered and joked about, and though he wanted to, he had restrained himself because he respected Levi too much to try and persuade him into something like that.

Levi kept silent for a minute or two after Erwin asked his question, just staring longingly into his now empty glass, then moving to pick up one of the water glasses that continued to drip condensation onto the table.

“I don’t know. I mean, what they say doesn’t sound bad, but its not true.” Levi, in his own roundabout way, had just admitted to liking Erwin, and he caught that despite being surrounded in his own whirlpool of thoughts.

“Would you like them to be? Not… not the desk ones, but the… other ones.” There were multiple rumors about them going through the office, some of them a bit more crude than others, but some of them were sweet and Erwin knew he wouldn’t be against them being true; it seemed Levi thought the same. Levi didn’t look to Erwin, instead he took an unsteady sip of his water, and Erwin saw the mess coming before it did and hurriedly moved to catch the glass that fell out of his hand, saving the water from spilling onto him. Levi breathed erratically as Erwin held the glass up over him, and then he quickly placed it on the table.

“Thank you.” Levi managed to say, his breathing returning to normal. They weren’t very far apart, not even half a foot, and Erwin found himself biting his lip before he forced himself to stop. Levi’s eyes traced over his face slowly, flicking back to his mouth a few times before Erwin knew what was happening.

There were many ways that Erwin had thought about this happening. He hadn’t exactly dreamed about it, more than just had wandering thoughts during the day about how nice it would be to just kiss Levi goodbye after they were done with work, or as a greeting, or just randomly through the day at any time. Kissing him sounded nice, but Erwin hadn’t thought their first kiss would happen when they were drunk and in the middle of a populated bar before ten o’clock. But here they were, surrounded by people on their own roads to drunken adventures who didn’t give a shit about the two men in the booth beginning to kiss. It wasn’t exactly how Erwin had imagined it, he’d thought maybe a peck to begin with, something small and sweet and something that would make him blush, but that wasn’t what this was.

Their noses knocked against each other awkwardly at first, and they didn’t really know what they were doing, but they were kissing, and Erwin moved his right hand away from the table to hold Levi’s face, his other hand supporting him on the upholstery. Levi leaned toward him, one hand holding the back of the seat, the other on his own leg as he pushed forward, meeting him. It wasn’t soft, their teeth hit each other, and Erwin was sure it was more painful than it should have been, but he hadn’t really noticed that because the fact that they were kissing, that Levi was kissing him, kind of override everything else that could run through his mind. Despite everything that made it somewhat painful, and the way that it had come about, Erwin found himself smiling, and his heart warming to temperatures he thought only the sun could reach. Then it was over, and he and Levi were staring at each other.

“I think I’ll call a cab for you,” Erwin whispered, swallowing after. His mouth began to feel stale, bland, dry, and he pulled away. He wasn’t sure what had caused such a turn of events, but his skin felt slimy, and he didn’t like it. Levi only nodded, looking away and returning to a normal sitting position, their arms barely touching as he tried to sit as far away from his as possible. Erwin was able to take out his phone and after a minute or two of trying to remember the cab company’s number, he punched it in and put the phone to his ear. It wasn’t long before he was hanging up, the man on the other end saying he’d be outside the bar in just a few minutes.

Erwin pocketed his phone, and began to move to get out of the seat, Levi moving behind him to do the same. He hadn’t finished his last glass of bourbon, but he didn’t care, he wanted to get home and brush his teeth and wash his mouth with soap. They didn’t walk close to one another as they exited the bar, but they were close enough that either one of the could help the other if they were to fall. Outside the bar Erwin felt the hairs on his neck stand up from the chill, and he tried to wrap his coat around himself more. He and Levi waited by the curb of the road until the taxi came, and they both entered, Erwin giving his address and then Levi giving his. Erwin took out a few bills that would more than cover the cost of the ride, and pushed them forward and said to hurry; he didn’t know how much longer he could go without wanting to kiss Levi again, and he didn’t know if the other man wanted that right now.

It didn’t take long to get to Erwin’s apartment building, a minute or two, and then Erwin was moving to leave the cab, but Levi stopped him by grabbing his hand.

“Erwin… I’ll,” Levi sighed and then moved closer, and their lips met again, but this time exactly how Erwin had imagined it, just a soft peck, something that long lasting couples did just because they enjoyed being close and touching the other. Erwin smiled after and patted his hands once before he exited the cab and it drove off down the road. After it was out of sight, Erwin blinked a few times and turned towards his building, and walked towards the door. He needed to rest as much as possible before Monday, and hope that he hadn’t just made a huge mistake.

 

 


End file.
